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GERMAN UNIVERSITIES: 



NARRATIVE OF PERSONAL EXPERIENCE, 



TOGETHER WITH 



RECENT STATISTICAL INFORMATION, PRACTICAL SUGGES 

TIONS, AND A COMPARISON OF THE GERMAN, 

ENGLISH AND AMERICAN SYSTEMS 

OF HIGHER EDUCATION. « 



K-- 



JAMES MORGAN HART. 





NEW YORK: 
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, 

FOURTH AVENUE AND TWENTY-THIRD STREET. 
1874. 






Entered, according to Act of Congress, in tlie year eighteen hundred and 
seventy-four, 

Bv G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, 

In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



TO 

GEORGE HAVEN PUTNAM, 

WHOSE STEADFAST WISH HAS BEEN FATHER TO THE AUTHOR's 
THOUGHT, THIS BOOK IS INSCRIBED, IN FRIENDLY 
REMEMBRANCE OF THE ^ 

GEORGIA AUGUSTA, 1 86 1-2. 



PREFACE 



Much has been published in a fugitive form upon 
the fruitful topic of university life in Germany. 
One man has taken up the lecture-system, another 
the dueling, a third the manners and customs of the 
instructors or of the students. But no one, I be- 
lieve, has told, in a plain, straightforward narrative, 
how he himself passed his time at the university, 
what he studied, and what he accomplished. It 
seemed to me, therefore, that I might do the cause 
of education in America some service, by offering 
my own experience as a sample of German student- 
life in the average. Had my career in Gottingen 
been an extraordinary one, full of exciting episodes, 
I should have hesitated to make it public. But 
precisely because it was so uneventful, so like the 
lives of my associates, I have deemed it fit to serve 
as a model for illustration, not imitation, and as a 
basis for digression. I have had throughout but one 
aim : to communicate facts and impressions from 
which the reader might draw his own inferences. 
Even those portions of the Personal Narrative 
which assume the form of argument are intended to 
remove prejudices, not to state final conclusions. 



vi PREFA CE. 

The General Remarks must abide the verdict as 
they stand. If they contain aught that is erroneous 
or distorted, the present is not the place for correc- 
tion. I can only say that I have striven faithfully 
to make them both accurate and just. Should the 
reader be disposed to regard my estimate of the 
German Universities as extravagant, of the English 
as too unfavorable, I would refer him to an oration 
delivered by von Sybel, in 1868, upon " German and 
Foreign Universities." It forms part of a volume 
entitled Vortrdge und Aufsdtze, recently published 
under the auspices of the Allgemeiner Verein fur 
deutsche Literatur. The renowned historian, who 
is certainly the last man to be taxed with blind, un- 
reasoning patriotism, approaches the subject from a 
different side, yet his views bear such close resem- 
blance, both in form and in spirit, to those set forth 
in the present work, that, to escape the imputation 
of unfair borrowing, I feel bound to state explicitly 
that I did not read the oration, in fact was not 
aware of its existence, until my own manuscript had 
passed entirely into the hands of the printer. After 
all, there can be but one opinion as to the merits of 
the several university systems of England, France 
and Germany. 

It may not be superfluous to add that the present 
work is not an attack upon the American College. 
Although holding that the German method of 



PREFACE. vii 

Higher Education is far above our own, I should 
be very sorry to see that method adopted at 
once, and in the lump. Before taking decided 
steps towards the expansion of our colleges into 
quasi universities, it will be advisable for us to con- 
sider thoroughly what a university really is, what it 
accomplishes, what it does not accomplish, the basis 
upon which it rests, the relations that it holds to the 
nation at large. Until we have formed clear and 
stable conceptions upon all these points, innova- 
tion, I fear, will be only tinkering, not reform. If I 
have succeeded in throwing any light upon the sub- 
ject, my wish is abundantly realized. 

J. M. H. 
New York, August, 1874. 



CONTENTS 



PART I. — Personal Narrative. 

CHAPTER. PACK. 

I. First Impressions of Gottingen, - - - i 

II. Attacking German, --__'_ ig 

III. Matriculation and Lectures, - - - - 35 

IV. A7i/ der Mensur, ------ 65 

V. Daylight in German, ----- 84 

VI. Idlesse, -------- icx) 

VII. Removal to Berlin — Utnsatteln, - - - 104 

VIII. Wiesbaden — The Institutes, - - - 122 

IX. Anniversary of Battle of Leipsic — Commers, - 137 

X. The Pandects, .---__ 149 

XI. The American Colony — Birthdays, - - 158 

XII. "Spurting," ------- 172 

XIII. The Final Agony of Preparation, - - - 192 

XIV. Examination, ..---. 217 

PART II. — General Remarks. 

I. What is a University ?----- 249 

II. Professors, ------- 264 

III. Privatdocenten, ------- 276 

IV. Students, ------- 287 - 

V. Discipline, ------- 313 

VI. Comparison with English Universities, - 321 

VII. Comparison with American Colleges, - - 338 

VIII. Statistics of German Universities, - - 356 

IX. Practical Hints ------- 383 



GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 



CHAPTER I. 

First Impressiotis of Gbttingen. 

ON a quiet Saturday afternoon — the last, if I 
remember aright — in the month of August, 1861, 
I took my first stroll " around the wall " of the town of 
Gottingen. I little imagined that the quaint group of 
rather scraggy looking houses then unrolling itself 
before my eyes for the first time was to be my home 
for three long years. I had reached Gottingen late the 
preceding night, having traveled through by the day 
express from Basel, Switzerland. The journey had 
been, of course, a fatiguing one. It was midnight 
before I had been able to get to bed, and although a 
prolonged rest had done something in the way of 
refreshing me, I still felt disposed to take life easily. 
The weather was suited to my mood. The summer of 
1 86 1 was very hot and dry throughout Europe, caus- 
ing the foliage to turn and fall much sooner than com- 
mon ; on that particular afternoon, a cool breeze 
rustled among the fast withering linden tops, and 
whispered already of autumn and early winter. The 
sober colors of the houses and garden walls, the gen- 



GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 



table and fruit gardens, or converted into a public 
park. The houses of the town do not abut against 
the wall, but stand back, generally at some distance; 
the intervening space is cut up into house gardens. 
The time occupied in making the circuit of the wall 
is forty-five minutes of average walking. Go when 
you will, morning, afternoon, or evening, by rain or 
by shine, in the nipping frost of winter or the 
oppressive heat of summer, you may be sure of 
meeting promenaders out for a stroll : grave profes- 
sors snatching a few minutes of relaxation from their 
manuscripts, and looking as meek and helpless out 
in the open air as a policeman off duty ; schoolboys 
tumbling one another down the sloping grassy sides 
of the wall ; gay Corps-studenten, in knots of three or 
four, gaudy with top-boots and Cerevis-viutzen (beer 
caps), each carrying the inevitable cane, with which 
he keeps himself in fencing practice by cutting 
graceful Liifthiebe (blows in the air) at an imaginary 
antagonist; maidens of the intensest German type, 
plain featured but erect and hearty, stepping briskly, 
and looking neither to right nor to left ; or, perhaps, 
an entire family mit Kind und Kegel, that is to say, " the 
dog and I and father and mother," escaped from the 
Philistia of rickety stairs and low-ceilinged shops to 
inhale the free breath of nature. 

Although thirteen eventful years have since elapsed, 
I have still a vivid impression of my first walk around 
the wall There were very few strollers out, for it was 



FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF GOTTINGEN. 5 

the middle of the long vacation and all the students 
and many of the professors were away. My compan- 
ion, the landlady to whom I was recommended by a 
kinsman who had recently left Gottingen to return 
home, chatted away volubly in the purest Hano- 
verian. Is there any thing, by the way, so exasper- 
ating as one's first attempt at conversation in a foreign 
language, the abortive, frantic efforts to convey one's 
own ideas, the utter inability to follow the thread ol 
the simplest narrative .'* Is there any thing so humili- 
ating as the consciousness that, although your com- 
panion is evidently using the shortest phrases and 
most every-day words, in fact a sort of baby talk 
adapted to your undeveloped mental capacities, you, 
in spite of all your book-learning and private lessons 
at so much an hour, cannot catch more than one idea 
in ten.? Yet, tyro as I was in German conversation, I 
detected a difference ; my teacher in Geneva had been 
a Saxon, and he had certainly not spoken as my land- 
lady was then speaking, while the contrast to the jargon 
of Switzerland, and to the broad sing-song of the Rhine 
region through which I had hurried the day previous, 
was still more evident. The vowels were clear and 
full, the Umlauts pure, the consonants sharp ; there 
was no apocope of letters and syllables, no running 
of words together; the general intonation of the voice 
was graciously modulated. I had no difficulty in dis- 
tinguishing each word as it was uttered, although I 

might not have the faintest conception of its meaning. 
I* 



GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 



I had gathered from various sources, that Hanover 
was the province in which to begin one's study of Ger- 
man to the best advantage. My very first day's experi- 
ence only corroborated the belief, which has not been 
shaken by years of subsequent study and travel. The 
cultivated classes throughout Germany speak sub- 
stantially the same language. Even in Vienna, the 
professors and men of letters do not differ much, 
either in their choice of words or in their accent, from 
their colleagues in Berlin or in Heidelberg. Still the 
difference exists, and is plainly perceptible to the 
trained ear. But among the uncultivated classes, the 
variations of speech and accent amount to dialects. 
Along the Rhine, in Suabia, Bavaria, and Austria, the 
folk speaks in a language that is almost unintelligible 
when first heard. The grounds upon which I base my 
preference for Hanover are briefly these. In the first 
place, the Hanoverian pronunciation conforms more 
closely than any other to the printed form of the word, 
it is more precise, it does not confound e.g., Feuer vf'ith. 
Feier, Wdrter with Wdrter^ Thiir with Thier. I do 
not pretend, of course, to settle in this off-hand way 
the competing claims of the various German dialects; 
there are grave reasons why we may, perhaps, regard 
the Saxon pronunciation as historically the most cor- 
rect. This is a matter for the professed philologist ; 
but the foreigner, who has to grope his way the best 
he can, who has to train both ear and throat to strange 
sounds, and to derive the greater part of his knowl- 



FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF GOTTINGEN. 7 

edge from books, will find it a decided advantage 
to begin his studies among a population that, more 
than any other, speaks as it writes and writes as it 
speaks. 

In the next place, the Hanoverians generally use 
good grammar. There are, of course, uneducated 
persons who make an occasional slip ; but in the 
main, the foreigner may take for granted that what- 
ever he hears he can repeat with safety. We, of the 
English-speaking race, are apt to overlook the im- 
portance of this point; our own language is so bare 
of grammatical inflections, that we have really lost 
an adequate sense of their significance. A few very 
gross vulgarisms aside, such as went for gone^ done for 
did, there is almost no bad grammar in English, how- 
ever much we may be plagued with bad style. But 
in German, the importance of a correct knowledge of 
words cases, government of prepositions, agreement 
of adjective and noun, is ten times as great. To the 
foreigner in Germany, then, who has to learn every 
thing at once, as it were, to struggle with dictionary 
and grammar, it makes a material diflTerence whether 
or not he resides in a community whose utterances he 
may look upon, for practical purposes, as infallible, 
whether or not he has to unlearn in bis room what he 
has learned on the street. It is a mistake to imagine 
that one's dealings in a foreign country are exclu- 
sively with the cultivated classes; one comes in con- 
tact with shopkeepers, waiters, servants of all kinds, 



GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 



and if their communications are corrupt, one's own 
manners will suffer. In Berlin, for instance, one 
often hears some such expression as, Ich habe Ihnen 
nicht gesehen. The advanced student of German will 
not be misled by such a gross blunder; but the tyro, 
who has not yet fully unraveled the perplexities of 
the dative and accusative cases, could scarcely escape 
bewilderment. In learning a language, one has need 
of every help; it is no small comfort, then, to con- 
verse with even a servant girl or a boot-black and 
feel a reasonable degree of assurance that one's 
grammar is not becoming infected at every other 
sentence. Taken all in all, there is no section of 
Germany where the foreigner can converse so safely 
with any and every body as he can in the kingdom 
(now province) of Hanover. 

Mr, Bristed,* in his introductory chapter, entitled 
" First Impressions of Cambridge," has suggested 
rather than described the general features of an 
English university town. The reader can construct 
from them a tolerably clear picture of what Cam- 
bridge or Oxford must be, the grandiose character of 
its architecture, the half-monkish official garb of the 
students and dons, the pervading tone of scholas- 
ticism. Both Cambridge and Oxford are simply con- 
geries or clusters of colleges, each college doing about 
the same work ; neither is a university in the true 
sense of the term. But reserving the discussion of 

* Five Years in an English University. 



FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF GOTTINGEN. 9 

this point for another place, I shall deal for the pres- 
ent exclusively with externals, with buildings, if the 
reader prefer this expression. 

No two institutions of the same species can be 
imagined more diverse than an English and a Ger- 
man university. Were I to push the antithesis to its 
extreme limits, I might say that the former was aM 
body, all bricks and mortar ; the latter, no body and 
all soul. The Englishman or American who visits a 
German university town for the first time will 
scarcely realize the fact that it is the seat of a great 
institution of learning. He can see nothing; there is 
no visible sign of the university, no chapel, no huge 
buildings, whether we call them dormitories or quad- 
rangles, no campus. There is no rallying place of 
professors and students, where he can stand and, 
letting his eye sweep around on every side, say: 
This is the university. He may even pass his entire 
life in the town and never once see the body of pro- 
fessors and students assembled in one place. 

I'dwell upon this distinction, because it is an 
important one. The reader who wishes to get a just 
notion of the character of a German university must 
dismiss from his mind all prejudices, any expectation 
of finding what his early associations may have led 
him to consider as the conspicuous features in a seat 
of learning. As I walked around the wall of Got- 
tingen for the first time, the predominating thought in 
my mind was : Where is the university } I could find 



GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 



no tangible evidences of its existence, its reality. 
Putting what questions I could in my imperfect 
German, and paying strict attention to the answers, 
I could rnake out that the dome to the left, near the 
starting-place of our walk, by the Geismar Gate, was 
an observatory ; considerably farther on, in close 
proximity to the railway station, was a large building 
bearing the inscription "Theatrum Anatomicum," 
evidently the medical school ; still further on, in the 
moat by the side of the wall, was an arrangement of 
glass-houses, that was no less evidently a botanical 
garden. This was all of the university that I could 
detect in my first tour of the great Gottingen 
promenade. 

Having come to Germany without any definite 
plan beyond that of learning the language and famil- 
iarizing myself somewhat with the literature, I could 
afford to take things as I found them and await 
future explanations. The Americans at that time 
studying at Gottingen were all absent on one or 
another summer excursion, so that I was a stranger 
in a strange land. What with puzzling over German 
Grammar and taking short walks every afternoon 
in the county, time did not hang too heavy on my 
hands. Fortunately, in about a week an Englishman 
residing in the same house returned unexpectedly, 
having cut short his trip. Those who have never 
tried the experiment of settling in a foreign country 
and among utter strangers, with the most imperfect 



FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF GOTTINGEN. II 

knowledge of the language and the ways of the 
people, can scarcely appreciate the discomforts of the 
first few days. My landlady was the most obliging and 
attentive one in the world, and had had more than one 
American in her friendly care. Still, she knew no Eng- 
lish and I knew very little German, so that life for the 
first week was a half-amusing, half-provoking comedy 

of errors. The return of Mr. E , then, was for me 

a bit of good luck ; I had at last some one with 
whom to converse freely and from whom to get need- 
ful information. Having already passed four or five 
semesters in the place, he was thoroughly familiar 
with shops, and streets, and university life, and had 
leisure to pilot me around and tell me what to do. 
The university lectures, I learned, would not be 
resumed until the third week in October, so that I 
had fully a month and a half in which to get up my 
German. We worked together over the catalogue of 
lectures for the coming term, in the attempt to pick 
out one or more that it might be worth my while to 
attempt to hear. I learned a good many peculiari- 
ties of university language ; for instance, that a pro- 
fessor never " instructs " or "lectures," he " reads; " 
the students do not " study," they " hear." I learned 
also that instruction in a German university runs 
in sharply defined channels. E was study- 
ing chemistry, consequently he could give me no 
information about lectures or professors in other 
departments ; he did not even know half of them by 



12 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

name, and could not venture an opinion as to their 
respective merits. All that he could say was, " Wait 

until H gets back. He's a Philology and can 

perhaps tell you what you wish to know." 

At all events, E • 's guidance enabled me to 

familiarize myself with the general aspects of the 
town and the location of the university buildings. 
Gottingen may serve as the type of the German 
university town. The population is about 12,000. 
The streets are neither very straight nor very 
crooked, and no one runs directly through the 
town ; in general, they are tolerably wide. The 
houses are plain and poorly built. The frame work 
is of wood, the outer walls being filled in with a sort 
of mud that is mixed with a good deal of straw to 
give it consistency ; after the mud has dried, it is 
painted. For a cheap mode of building, it is much 
better than might be supposed. The number of 
stone and brick buildings is small. The handsomest 
building in town is (or was in my day) the Labora- 
tory, built under the supervision of Wohler himself, 
since deceased. It is a large structure, built of 
light blue stone, and perfectly fire-proof The Aula 
is the centre of the university, so far as it can be 
said to have a centre. It is a small but not inelegant 
looking building, somewhat after the Grecian order, 
standing on a small open place or square not far 
from the centre of the town. In this Aula new 
students are matriculated and the University Court 



FIRST UIFRESSIONS OF GOTTINGEN. 13 

holds its sessions ; it also contains the general offices 
of the university, such as the treasurer's, and, last 
but not least, the Career, where unruly students are 
confined for a fortnight or less, for minor offenses; 
graver ones are punished by relegation or by expul- 
sion. 

Lectures on chemistry were delivered in the labo- 
ratory; those on medicine, in the Theatrum Anatomi- 
cum ; all the others, including theology, law and 
philosophy, in the university sense of that term, were 
held in the so-called Collegien-haus, a. short row of 
buildings that had once been private dwellings, but 
had been converted into lecture rooms. 

In 1865 the new Collegien-haus was opened, a large 
and elegant building constructed for the especial 
purpose, just out of the Wende Gate, near the Botani- 
cal Garden. By the side of the old Collegien-haus, 
separated from it by an arched way, stands the cele- 
brated university library, one of the best in Europe ; 
the building is nothing more than an old church, 
adapted to secular uses and enlarged here and there 
by irregular extensions or wings. In the arched 
way between the lecture rooms and the library 
stood the Schwarzes Brett (black board), a long board 
painted black and having a wire screen in front. On 
this board were posted all announcements relating to 
university instruction, announcements of lectures or 
changes in lectures, of degrees conferred upon stu- 
dents, and the like. 



14 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

Besides the buildings that I have described, there 
are other, minor ones sea ttered over the town ; the 
headquarters of the agricultural department are even 
located about two miles out of town, on a model farm 
near the village of Wende. 

It is needless to go deeper into details ; I have 
said already enough to make it clear to the reader that 
a German university, as far as buildings and out- 
ward show are concerned, is made up of disjecta mem- 
bra. There is a bond of vital union, a very strong 
one too, but it is wholly spiritual ; it does not appeal 
to the senses. In architectural display, I am confi- 
dent that the most unimportant college at Oxford or 
Cambridge will surpass any university in Germany. 

The new life that I was leading dawned upon me 
very pleasantly. The weather continued fine for 

many weeks, permitting E and myself to take long 

walks every afternoon. Sometimes our landlady, 

Frau H , accompanied us ; sometimes, even, she 

made up a small party of her friends for our benefit. 
The Germans are veryfond of walking, but look upon 
it much more sensibly than the English do ; they 
regard it as a pleasure, a relaxation, not as so many 
miles to be covered, so many ditches to be leaped in 
an hour. Old and young, men and women, go out 
for a stroll whenever they can find the time and favor- 
able weather. The roads in Germany are good, and 
the by-paths easy to follow. Around every town in 
the land, at distances varying from one mile to two or 



FIR S T IMPRESSIONS OF GO TTINGEN. 1 5 

three, lie scattered here and there ten or a dozen vil- 
lages or gardens where the pedestrian can sit down to 
rest and refresh himself with beer or coffee; in most 
of these places a warm supper even can be had. On 
any fine day in spring, summer, or autumn, one c'an 
see an entire German family, parents, grandparents 
perhaps, children, all wending their way to some 
Garten or Muhle, where they will meet other like- 
minded families and pass the afternoon and part of 
the evening in recreation ; the men roll Kegel (nine- 
pins ), the women knit and gossip over their coffee, 
the children roam through the fields. Enjoyment is 
simple and unrestrained; there are no "roughs" in 
Germany. Now and then one reads in the newspa- 
pers of a murder or a robbery in the neighborhood of 
Berlin or Vienna ; but such deeds are perpetrated only 
in very obscure, degraded localities. Such a thing as 
the breaking up of a pleasure party by wanton, mali- 
cious " roughs " is an unheard-of occurrence. 

The scenery around Gottingen is not grand nor very 
beautiful, but it is pleasant. At fii^st I thought it tame 
enough, coming as I did direct from the Alps. This 
feeling of disappointment, however, soon wore away, 
and I began to conceive a decided liking for my new 
home. Gottingen lies in a broad, fertile valley ; the 
hill to the east, called the Rhons or the Kehr ( both 
proper names of men who formerly lived there), 
stands quite near the town, and slopes away to a 
height of three or four hundred feet ; the hill to the 



1 6 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

west, crossed in zig-zag by the railroad from Cassel, 
is much farther away and much higher. The little river 
Leine, a narrow, muddy stream, that would be called in 
America a creek, flows through the middle of the town, 
although it is so covered up by mills and other buildings 
that it is visible only in a few places. 

The valley is uncommonly level, and, in the neigh- 
borhood of the town, rather marshy. A small branch 
of the Leine flows around the town in a detour. The 
water in this branch is a few feet higher than the 
land, and is allowed to overflow in winter, partly to 
fertilize the soil, partly to give the Gottingese an 
opportunity for skating. The land in the district of 
Gottingen is both Grossgutsbesitz and Klei/igut, that is to 
say, there are both large estates and small peasant-hold- 
ings. The peasantry, Bauern, as a class, are industrious 
and wealthy, although by no means as wealthy as their 
famous brethren of Sachsen-Altenburg. In the imme- 
diate vicinity of the town, the land is given up to grass ; 
farther out, there are immense fields of wheat, buckwheat, 
rye and barley. One feature of the German method of 
cultivation impressed me as being not only practical but 
as enhancing materially the beauty of the landscape ; the 
same feature prevails also in France. I mean the total 
absence of fences, those wretched snake-like black trails 
that disfigure the face of the country in America. I 
have walked for miles in every direction from Gottingen, 
over meadows, through fields of wheat and rye, but I 
cannot remember once encountering a fence. Some of 



FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF GOTTINGEN. 17 

the gardens just outside of the town are surrounded by 
high walls ; but after he has left them behind him, the 
pedestrian finds that he has an unobstructed sweep of 
vision. The boundary lines of farms and estates are 
marked at the angles by stones sunk in the ground. 
In this way the Germans not only save themselves the 
trouble and expense of building fences, but they preserve 
the natural aspect of the terrain. Cattle, sheep and 
horses, when put out to graze, are not allowed to roam at 
will but are kept in herds by men and dogs, or else 
enclosed by a slight temporary fence. Not even along 
the great royal chaussee that follows the valley of the 
Leine from Witzenhausen through Gottingen and Nord- 
heim to the city of Hanover, is there any thing to sepa- 
rate the road from the fields ; only a small shallow ditch 
on each side, and two rows of monotonous Lombardy 
poplars blending into one in the dim distance. 

The valley of the Leine has always been a thorough- 
fare between the region of the Weser and the region of 
central Germany, Franconia and Thuringia. During the 
Middle Ages, when the " fist-law " was in force, numerous 
castles raised their frowning battlements along the hills 
that line the valley, principally along the eastern ridge. 
The remains of two of these knightly burgs, or robber 
strongholds, still exist in the neighborhood of Gottingen, 
namely the Gleichen and the Plesse. The former is 
five or six miles to the south of the town ; the latter, 
by far the more frequented of the two, is about four 
miles in the opposite direction, near the village of Wende. 



GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 



The ruins are on a detached spur of the eastern ridge, 
and overlook the plain from an elevation of several hun- 
dred feet. The path leads up from the small concert 
garden at Mariae Spring, through a charming grove of 
beeches and maples. The outer walls of the castle are, 
in most places, still standing, and the general ground- 
plan can be easily recognized. The old tower is almost 
intact. It was roofed-in with a stained-glass roof in 1862, 
if I remember rightly. The platform of the castle is a 
cosy retreat on a warm summer afternoon, and affords 
an extensive view of the smiling plains below and the 
long, high western ridge directly opposite. 



CHAPTER II. 

Attacking German. 

T WAS now ready for the winter's work, namely, the 
-■- formal investment of that Gibraltar ycleped the 
German language. On reaching Gottingen, I knew just 
enough of German to realize that I knew practically 
nothing. The three months' instruction, exclusively 
book-work, that I had received at Geneva was scattered 
to the winds during a long pedestrian tour through the 
Alps ; scarcely any thing remained of the lessons but 
the uncertain remembrance of a few paradigms of nouns 
and verbs. The spirit of the language was wholly 
unknown to me ; I was neither better nor worse off than 
the average American graduate who has been passed 
in Otto, Woodbury or Comfort, and has read an act or 
two of Wilhelm Tell. 

As the opening of the fall term was still six or seven 
.weeks off, I had a fair opportvmity of trying what I could 
do in the way of preparation for understanding lectures. 
But before beginning the account, it will be advisable to 
say a few words about my novel abode. 

Continuing the plan which had worked so well in Gen- 
eva, I determined to live, for the first few months at least, 
in a family where I should have the privilege of speaking 



GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 



and hearing German continually. The landlady, Frau 

H , was the only one who pretended to give what we 

call "boarding." German students, be it observed, never 
board ; each man lives by himself, in his own room, takes 
his breakfast, and generally his supper, there, but dines 
at the table d'hote of a hotel or restaurant. The life, 
then, that I led during my first winter in Gottingen 
was not strictly that of a German student. My breakfast, 
merely rolls and coffee, was brought to my room by the 
servant ; dinner and supper, we, /. e. myself and the other 
boarders, two Americans and an Englishman, had in 
the dining-room with our landlady. We paid so much 
a month for "TuU board," while the German student hires 
his room by the semester, and keeps a book-account for 
whatever he orders, paying up at the end of every week 
or month. 

Yet the rooms that we had were like those of every 

other student. The one occupied by E being rather 

more typical than my own, I shall describe it in prefer- 
ence. It was a large square room, the two front windows 
facing on the street, the side window overlooking the 
wall as it sloped down to make an entrance for the Geis- 
mar road into the town. Off to one side was the sleep- 
ing-room, one half the size of the study. Neither room 
was carpeted. In one corner of the room, near the door, 
stood the inevitable Of en, a big stove of porcelain reach- 
ing almost to the ceiling. The German theory of heating 
is to have a large stove of massive porcelain, in which 
your servant makes a rousing fire in the morning ; after 



ATTACKING GERMAN. 



the blaze has died out, and nothing is left but the glim- 
mering coals, the door and the clapper are made fast. 
The stove is then supposed to hold its heat and maintain 
a uniform temperature in the room. The fuel used is 
generally wood ; even in Leipsic and Berlin, where wood 
is dear and coal comparatively cheap, the former is pre- 
ferred for room and parlor stoves. This plan of heating 
has its advantages and its drawbacks. It is rather eco- 
nomical, and it secures a uniform temperature for a 
certain time ; besides saving one the trouble of raking 
and adding fresh fuel every few hours, it dispenses with 
dust and ashes. The disadvantages are that the air in 
the room is not properly renewed, and also that the stove 
cools down so gradually that, before the inmate is aware, 
the temperature has dropped several degrees. On the 
whole, I prefer the American base-burner. 

Another indispensable article of furniture in a stu- 
dent's room is the Secretary or secretary. This consists 
of three parts : the lower, a set of drawers ; in the 
middle, a sort of door that can be let down, disclosing a 
fascinating arrangement of pigeon-holes and very small 
drawers for storing away letters and papers and " traps " 
generally ; up above, a cupboard. 

The ceiling of E 's room was scored in every 

direction. These marks, I was informed, were the scars 
of old sabre-wounds, that had been left there by the 
former inmate. As the ceiling was rather low, a tall man 
in reaching out for Hochquart would be apt to graze the 
top of the room with the point of his sabre or his Schla- 



22 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

ger. The former inmate, judged by the number of 
tokens of his existence that he had left, must have kept 
himself and his visitors in pretty thorough practice. 
Against the wall, in the corner opposite the stove, hung 
a pair of the instruments of destruction, with masks 
and gloves. In a third corner was the equally inevi- 
table sofa, upon which the student lies off to enjoy 
his after-dinner pipe and coffee. Over the sofa hung 
a picture of the Brunswick Corps, representing, in litho- 
graph, the members of the corps holding their annual 
Commers (celebration) at some place in the country, 
perhaps Marice Spring. Some are sitting around a 
table, others are grouped picturesquely on the grass, oth- 
ers again are standing; but every one has a long pipe in 
one hand, and a Deckel-schoppen (large beer-glass with a 

cover) in the other. E was not a member of the 

corps, but he had been for some time a Cofikneipant, i. e., 
one who attends the weekly meetings when he feels dis- 
posed, and joins in the revelry; the picture, then, was a 
souvenir of his old friends. Around this large picture 
were grouped many smaller ones, all likenesses of German 
and American students. Scattered around the room were 
pipe-bowls, stems, ash-cups, " stoppers " (curious little 
arms and legs of porcelain for plugging the pipes), and 
the other paraphernalia of smoking. Nearly all these 
articles were gifts. The German plan of making pres- 
ents, by the way, is a curious one. Jones and Smith, we 
will suppose, agree to dedicate {dedicireti) to each other. 
They select two articles of exactly the same kind and 



ATTACKING GERMAN. 23 

value, say two porcelain pipe-bowls ; each pays for the 
other, and has the inscription put on : Jones to his dear 
Smith, or Smith to his dear Jones (J. sm. — In. S.) The 
advantage of the system is that you get a keepsake of 
your friend without feeling that you have put yourself 
under obligations. Each man gives as good as he gets. 

What books E possessed were stacked up in a 

rather rickety set of shelves under the sabres. E 

was an industrious student, but, being a chemist, was not 
supposed to have need of a large library. His helps to 
study were in the laboratory, in the shape of apparatus. 

Every student in a university town occupies a room like 
the one that I have described. The room may be larger 
or smaller, may be located front or back, its furniture 
may be more or less elegant, but the general features do 
not vary. The point to which I desire to call especial 
attention is this : every student, no matter how straitened 
in circumstances, has a study and a sleeping room exclu- 
sively to himself; " chumming " is unknown in Germany, 
except occasionally in the large cities, Berlin and Vienna, 
where the disproportionately high rents force a few of 
the poorer students to take apartments in common. But 
even in Berlin and Vienna, chumming is looked upon as 
a last resort. The superiority of the German system is 
incalculable ; it is more manly, it conduces to indepen- 
dence of study and prevents much waste of time. One 
who shares his room with a chum is often at the mercy 
of bores ; he can turn away his own visitors perhaps, but 
not his chum's. Besides, if two or more students wish 



24 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

at any time to work up a subject after the cooperative 
fashion, as the Germans frequently do, they can accom- 
plish the object by simply meeting at each other's rooms. 
But really independent, thorough research, study that is 
to tell in after life, can be done only in the privacy of 
one's own sanctum. 

There is no royal road to learning, at least to learning 
a living language. German, for instance, is a vast treas- 
ure-house from which each one carries off only so much 
as his shoulders will bear. A volume might easily be 
filled with all the schemes, some sensible, others absurd, 
for making the first approaches to German easier. The 
truth is that German never can be made easy, not even 
for the natives ; there is a subtle, lurking spirit in the 
language that always baffles the vision and eludes the 
grasp. Speaking with the experience of thirteen years, I 
feel it my duty to warn the reader against all " easy cour- 
ses " or works entitled " German in Thirty Lessons With- 
out a Master." I doubt whether such a thing as a 
smattering of German is desirable or even possible. The 
man who thinks that he can " get up " German in a month 
or so, as he might French, will speedily discover his mis- 
take. Permit me to quote, with reference to this very 
view of the case, one of Klopstock's Odes which is not so 
well known as it should be : 

Dass Keine, welche lebt, mit Deutschlands Sprache sich 
In den zu kiihnen Wettstreit wage ! 
Sie ist — damit ich's kurz, mit ihrer Kraft es sage, 
An mannigfalt'ger Uranlage. 



ATTACKING GERMAN. 25 

Zu immer neuer und doch deutscher Wendung reich ; 

1st, was wir selbst in jenen grauen Jahren, 

Da Tacitus uns forschte, waren : 

Gesondert, ungemischt, und nur sich selber gleich. 

Nothing is farther from my purpose than to write a 
dissertation either upon the language or upon the best 
way of learning it. After all there is only one way, 
namely : to set about the work resolutely, to take plenty 
of time, and never to grow weary, especially of writing 
exercises. Scarcely one of the many Americans who 
were contemporary with myself in Gottingen seemed to 
devote enough time to the study of German grammar. 
The common belief was that one set of lessons in gram- 
mar was quite sufficient ; after you had finished Otto or 
Woodbury, for instance, you might lay aside your gram- 
mar and trust to reading for further progress. Besides 
the general feeling of impatience, there is a practical 
motive that prompts to such a course ; nine of every ten 
Americans who study in Germany regard a knowledge of 
the language as only the means to some ulterior object, 
generally a knowlege of chemistry or medicine. It is not 
surprising, then, that they reduce their preliminary study 
to a minimum, in order that they may begin what they 
consider their real work as soon as possible. They are 
satisfied with learning enough grammar to recognize the 
connection of words in a sentence ; the technical words of 
their science, which are to them the all important ones, 
they know by actual practice ; all others are relatively 
unimportant. They read a play or two of Schiller, some 
3 



26 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

of Goethe's poems, perhaps a few of Uhland's or Heine's. 
Of the language as an entirety, of German Hterature as a 
body of thought, they have but a very inadequate con- 
ception. 

It seems to me that this is to be regretted. The num- 
ber of Americans who finish their studies in Germany is 
already large, and grows from year to year. Is it asking 
too much to expect from them, on their return, sound 
general notions of German literature and thought, some 
familiarity with the steps by which Germany has been 
conducted to her present pinnacle of greatness .? At all 
events, is it not a shame that many a Ph. D., who 
has passed two or three years in the land of Lessing, 
should be beaten by his stay-at-home brother or sister in 
attempting to explain the mysteries of an easy play by 
Kotzebue or Benedix } 

As for myself, I took a serious view of the question, 
and resolved to master the language as far as in me lay. 
In one respect, certainly, my plan differed from that of 
every one else. Knowing that there was at least a year 
before me, I decided to spend six months with the gram- 
mar, before venturing upon any course of reading. This 
may seem strange, if not paradoxical ; how can one learn 
a language without reading its authors .? Easily enough. 
Text-books of grammar, phrase-books give- models of 
forms and sentences ; the beginner, for whom the form 
is every thing, can learn more from a good grammar than 
from the best reading; that is to say, he will get, in a 
condensed and a more available shape, what lies scat- 



ATTACKING GERMAN. 27 

tered over many pages of an ordinary book. By writing 
exercises constructed for the express purpose, he can 
train himself in the use of the very modes of expression 
in which he may be weakest. Let me give an example 
or two. The most perplexing features of the German 
language are the so called passive voice, the government 
of the prepositions, the separable and inseparable verbs, 
the use of the particles of motion, hin and her. It is not 
so difficult to glide over these peculiarities as they arise 
in reading ; the beginner can translate after a fashion, 
making out the meaning by the aid of the context. But 
it is a much more serious undertaking to master them so 
as to use them, and as it is impossible to put together 
five consecutive sentences in German in which they will 
not be involved, the shortest way out of the difficulty is 
to learn them once for all, by writing and committing 
to memory a great number of model sentences in which 
the same principles are applied again and again. 

It is of little avail in German, or indeed in any lan- 
guage, to commit rules to memory, unless the student has 
an example for every rule and every modification of 
a rule at his tongue's end, ready for use at any moment 
and in every place. This result can be attained only 
through a generous outlay of time and patience, and 
incessant drill in certain standard forms, what a French- 
man might call cadres of expression. It is a common 
mistake to suppose that the beginner must acquire a 
large stock of words ; fifteen hundred, perhaps even 
less, will answer for all ordinary conversation and 



28 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

writing. The first and chief thing is to learn how to 
put these fifteen hundred words together, to assign each 
one to its proper place in the sentence and to show its 
grammatical relations to other words. That done, but 
not sooner, the student may begin to enlarge his vocab- 
ulary. 

Another point has been too much overlooked, namely, 
the importance, not to say the necessity, of translating 
copiously from the mother tongue into the foreign. 
There is probably no other means of seizing the spirit 
of a foreign language. The labor, I am aware, is im- 
mense, but it will be found to yield the largest returns. 
It is one thing to be able, grammar and dictionary in 
hand, to pick your way through a German book; it is 
quite another to read it off, looking out a word here and 
there perhaps, but feeling that all the idioms, the forms 
of thought, are familiar to you, that you yourself might 
have expressed your own ideas after very nearly the same 
fashion. It is the final stage of the student's progress, 
and when he has reached it he may well exult, for he is 
in possession of a new power. But this cheering result 
is not the work of a week or a month ; it can be attained 
only by unremitting and well directed efforts. The way 
to it leads through composition and translation from the 
mother tongue. On many points composition and trans- 
lation will coincide ; they both have the advantage of 
breaking up one's habits of thinking and forcing them 
into new channels. By attempting to write as a German 
would write, we acquire the habit of using German words 



ATTACKING GERMAN. 29 

with the exactest knowledge of their meaning, we accus- 
tom ourselves to the use of particles of thought that do 
not exist in English, but which cannot be omitted from 
the German phrase, we are made to feel the importance 
of correct grammar, not as something foreign to our- 
selves, but as the only tolerable or even intelligible way 
of connecting single words. The advantage of transla- 
tion over free composition is this. Each man's range of 
words and ideas is limited. When we compose, even in 
our mother tongue, we are liable to fall into a sort of rut. 
If we write in a foreign language, this natural tendency 
is only increased by the constant temptation to use the 
most familiar words and phrases; we are apt to say what 
we have to say in the shortest and easiest way possible, 
so as to avoid trouble. We fall into a school-boy style 
from which it is almost impossible to escape. But when 
we undertake to translate the writings of a stranger, we 
have before us work of a higher order ; we are held to 
reproduce, to the best of our ability, words, ideas and 
sentiments that lie outside our own narrow sphere. 
Instead of merely working up old material, we enlarge 
our capacity of expression in both languages. 

I trust that the reader does not take me to be better at 
preaching than at practising. The advice that I have 
just given him may sound strange and impracticable. 
But he can rest assured that it is sincerely meant, and 
is the fruit of my own personal experience. During the 
first six months of my stay in Gottingen, I read nothing 
that could be called a German book. It seemed to me 
*3 



30 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

profanation, as it were, to stumble through Goethe or 
Schiller, hunting up every other word in the dictionary, 
striving to seize the poetry of the original yet succumb- 
ing to every paltry irregular verb or preposition governing 
different cases. It was too much like parsing the " Para- 
dise Lost." I felt persuaded that it would be better in 
the long run to wait until I had developed myself into 
somewhat of a German, before intruding into the sacred 
precincts of German art. The reader will have the 
opportunity, in a subsequent place, of judging whether 
the experiment succeeded. 

So I settled down to an unmerciful "grind." For six 
long months I toiled over grammar and grammars. I 
wrote all the exercises in Woodbury and Otto, and a good 
many in Ollendorf, until this last grew insufferably tedi- 
ous, and then mastered Plate. This work is not so 
well known in America as it should be ; the author, prin- 
cipal of the Commercial Academy of Bremen, is thor- 
oughly familiar with both languages, and has treated 
certain subjects, e. g., the separable verbs, the passive 
voice, and the German substitutes for the participial 
phrase, better and more fully than the other grammar- 
ians.* Woodbury I found chiefly valuable for the collec- 
tion of idiomatic phrases illustrating the use of the 
German prepositions. Besides these English-German 
grammars, which I literally " swallowed " word for word, 
I also consulted incessantly Heyses Schidgrammatik der 

♦It was not until my return that I became acquainted with Dr. Arnold's 
German Exercises. They are the best of the kind in existence. 



ATTACKING GERMAN. 31 

deutschen Sprache, a book written for the use of pupils 
in the upper classes of the gymnasia. But my hardest 
work was in translating from English into German. 
Here I tried my hand at all sorts of books and styles, 
from Hawthorne's " Marble Faun " to leaders from the 
London Times. My plan was to translate a few passages 
from one book, enough to seize the peculiarities of the 
author's style and diction, and then pass to another. In 
looking over my old copy-books and manuscripts, blurred 
and corrected in places so as to be scarcely legible, it is 
easy for me now to see that, notwithstanding the help of 
grammar and teacher, I wrote a good deal of rubbish, 
clumsy, un-German sentences that no native would think 
of putting on paper. But with all their imperfections, 
these exercises answered their purpose ; they gave me a 
better insight into the peculiarities of the language than 
I could have got in any other way. There was scarcely 
an English idiom that I did not attempt to " upset " into 
German after a fashion. 

Permit me to narrate one amusing incident. In the 
English text that I happened to be working upon 
occurred the phrase "he said, by the way." The expres- 
sion " by the way " I had left blank, not finding any 
equivalent in the dictionary. "But," said my teacher, 
"why don't you translate: auf dem JVege?" It was in 
vain I tried to convey the idea of the English, how the 
word " way " was not used in a literal sense, like " road," 
but in a figurative sense, to denote something thrown in, 
as it were, something incidental. What misled the 



32 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

teacher was the circumstance that the person speaking 
was actually in motion at the time described; of course, 
then, the phrase must be auf detn Wege. I felt instinc- 
tively that he was wrong ; but how hit upon a word or 
an idiom that would convey the idea exactly? We 
talked to and fro, I exhausted my vocabulary and the 
teacher his patience, until we sat confronting each other 
as disconcerted as a bridal couple after their first quarrel. 
All at once a light, as the German students would say, 
a "tallow-light," dawned upon me. I bethought me of 
the French phrase en passant., and flourished it in triumph 
at my teacher. " Ach so ! (with the delicate sneer that 
i"(? can be made to suggest in German). En passant ! Na 
nun, naturlich ; beilaufig ivollen Sie sagenJ" I con- 
sulted my watch; we had spent ten minutes in finding 
one word. A liberal outlay of time, but then the word 
was there, and furthermore it had been got in such a 
way as insured its never being forgotten; there was no 
danger of my losing sight of beilaufig. 

The teacher, " by the way," was not a particularly good 
English scholar. At that time in his third or fourth 
semester, he was a good philologist, but had read very 
little English and had never had an opportunity of hear- 
ing or of speaking the language. So far from regarding 
this as a disadvantage, I considered it then and still con- 
sider it a positive gain. It forced me into the position 
of talking German even in my lessons, of explaining all 
my wants in my own phraseology. Whenever any diffi- 
cult passage or peculiar idiom occurred, as the above, I 



ATTACKING GERMAN. 33 

had to give the sense of the entire context by "beating 
around the bush," by stating what the thing was not, until 
the teacher could gather from my broken utterances what 
it really was j then, when the answer came, when the cor- 
rect rendering was reached, it made its impression. It 
did not go in by one ear and out by the other, the mind 
was ready to receive and retain it. Judging from the 
experiences of my friends, I am disposed to look upon 
"crack" teachers in Germany with some mistrust. In 
the first place, they are apt to cultivate their own Eng- 
lish at the expense of the pupil's German. In the next 
place, the pupil, finding the teacher thoroughly prepared 
on all points, lapses into a state altogether too passive ; 
he is content to sit and listen to explanations, to take 
every thing for granted, to rely upon the teacher to do 
the thinking. After all, the chief result to be aimed at is 
to train and develop the faculties, to acquire the habit 
of expressing one's self in German, to get a German mem- 
ory and turn of thought, as it were. This accomplished, 
the rest will follow as a matter of course, in due time and 
with patience ; but whether a certain word is learned one 
week or the next, is a matter of comparative indifference. 
The more haste at first, the less speed at last. 

The reader need not infer from the above account that 
I read absolutely no German during the first six months. 
I skimmed the papers every day for news from home — 
German leaders were too heavy for my taste, in fact they 
are so at the present day ! — and read short pieces of 
poetry and an .occasional story in the Gartenlaube or 



34 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

Ueber Land u?id Meer. But I kept carefully in abeyance 
whatever looked like literature. 

This plan of devoting one's self exclusively to grammar 
may seem to conflict with the opinions expressed by Mat- 
thew Arnold * upon the aim and methods of linguistic 
study, opinions moreover with which I heartily agree. 
Matthew Arnold says : " An immense development of 
grammatical studies, and an immense use of Latin and 
Greek composition, take so much of the pupil's time, that 
in nine cases out of ten he has not any sense at all of 
Greek and Latin literature as literature^ and ends his 
studies without getting any. His verbal scholarship and 
his composition he is pretty sure in after life to drop, and 
then all his Greek and Latin is lost. Greek and Latin 
literature, if he had ever caught the notion of them, 
would have been far more likely to stick by him." But 
this conflict was apparent rather than real. I regarded 
my grammatical studies and translations strictly as a 
means to an end, and merely crowded them into a period 
of six months instead of letting them prolong themselves 
over a year and a half. It seemed to me, and still seems 
to me, that such a plan after all saves time. No sooner, 
however, did translation and grammar threaten to become 
a mere drudgery, a mere tread-mill round without pro- 
gress, than I dropped them forever, as any thing more 
than incidental work, and took up reading, literature in 
Mr. Arnold's sense of the term, as the reader will learn 
in the sequel. 

* Higher Schools and Universities in Germany^ p. 183. (Edition of 1874). 



CHAPTER III. 
Matriculation and Lectures. 

Deeming it advisable to preserve a certain unity of sub- 
ject, I have thrown all remarks upon the study of German 
grammar into the preceding chapter, in order to dispose 
of them, although thereby making that chapter overlap 
the present by several months. I was not through with 
my grammar-travail until early spring, but I was matricu- 
lated in October, 

A German university is the one institution in the world 
that has for its motto: Time is not money. The 
university is a law unto itself, each professor is a law unto 
himself, each student revolves on his own axis and at his 
own rate of speed. English and Americans have formed 
not a few queer notions of university life in Germany. They 
picture to themselves a town like Gottingen, for instance, 
as a place where everybody is running a break-neck race 
for scholarly fame, where days are months and hours 
days, where minutes are emphatically the gold-dust of 
time. The truth is that no one hurries or gets into a 
feaze over any thing, the university itself setting a good 
example. The academic year is divided into two terms, 
called the winter and the summer semesters. The winter 
semester covers nominally five months, from October 



36 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

15th to March 15 th. In reality, both beginning and end 
are whittled off, so to speak, and there is a pause of two 
weeks at Christmas, so that the actual working time 
is little over four months. From March 15th to April 
15th is the spring vacation. The summer semester then 
runs to August 15th, but practically the work is over by 
the first of that month. 

Supposing yourself to be a tyro in such matters, and 
the 15th of October to be drawing near, you are naturally 
impatient to be matriculated and at work. But you will 
discover that the older students are not yet back, and, on 
consulting the " Black Board," you see no announcement 
of lectures. There is no hurry. A day or two after the 
15th, perhaps, a general announcement is affixed, to the 
effect that candidates for matriculation may present 
themselves at the Aula on such and such days of the 
week, at certain hours. The ceremony is a simple one. 
In the first place, you proceed to the secretary's office and 
deposit there your " documents " entitling you to admis- 
sion. For a German, this is a matter of some impor- 
tance ; he is not ^admitted unless he is able to produce 
certain papers, the principal one of which is a certificate 
that he has attended a gymnasium or Reahchule and has 
passed satisfactorily the final examination {Abitu?-ietjien- 
exameti). As the university holds no extrance-examina- 
tion, this is the only guarantee it can have that those 
seeking admission are properly qualified. But in the 

* Or admitted only under very grave conditions and restrictions. 



MA TRICULA TION AND LECTURES. 37 

case of a foreigner, the utmost liberality is displayed. 
Ten years ago, while. Gottingen was a Hanoverian uni- 
versity, the only document required of a foreigner was 
his passport. It is the same to this day in Leipsic, 
Heidelberg, and the South German universities. The 
Prussian universities are a trifle stricter ; in the case of 
Americans, they generally expect a diploma of Bachelor 
of Arts or the like, but they can scarcely be said to exact 
it. I doubt whether any German university would refuse 
to admit any foreign candidate who showed by his size 
and bearing that he was really a young man able to look 
after himself, and not a mere boy. Besides, it would be 
easy to evade the Prussian requirements, if they were 
strictly enforced, by first entering a non-Prussian univer- 
sity, say Leipsic, and after remaining there a semester or 
two, procuring an honorable dismissal {Abgangszeugniss) 
and then removing to Berlin or Bonn. By virtue of the 
parity existing among the universities of Germany, a 
student in good standing in one is entitled to admission 
to any other. But the Germans know perfectly well that 
they can afford to be liberal toward foreigners. They 
take it for granted that when a young man puts himself 
to the trouble and expense of a visit to Germany, the 
chances are that he means to do well. The mere fact of 
his coming is a compliment to them, which they recipro- 
cate by making things easy for him. Foreigners do not 
interfere with the course of instruction, while they do 
lend eclat to the university and help to swell its income. 
There is nothing selfish or exclusive about the higher 
4 



38 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

education in Germany ; although intended for Germans, 
it is open to all who choose to avail themselves of it, 
capacious enough to accommodate every type of mind, 
and absolutely free from dwarfing restrictions. The 
newly matriculated student, the Fuchs, is made to feel 
from the start that he is his own master.* 

But I am digressing. The next step in matriculation is 
to visit the treasurer {Qimestor) and pay the matriculation 
fees. These vary somewhat with the different universities, 
but are nowhere excessive. In Gottingen they amounted 
to about five dollars. In exchange for your fees you get 
two weighty documents, the ab c oi student life : your 
Anmeldungs-buch, Q.n6. your student card. The former 
varies in size and shape (in Berlin they used the Anmel- 
dungs-bogen as distinguished from buck), but whether 
book or merely folded sheet, it answers the same purpose ; 
it is to be your record of work done. Imagine to your- 
self a large, stout book, like a copy-book ; each page is 
for a semester, and there are eight or ten pages in all, that 
being the estimated maximum number of semesters that 
you will remain ; if you study longer, you can get a fresh 
book. The page is ruled in vertical columns, one for the 
names of the courses of lectures that you hear, another 
for the treasurer's certificate that you have paid the 
lecture-fees, a third and a fourth for the professor's cer- 
tificates that you have attended the course, entered at 
the beginning and at the end of the semesters. The 

• The applicant has also to sign a pledge that he will not become a member 
of any secret political society. 



MA TRICULA TION AND LECTURES. 39 

modus operandi is as follows. After deciding what lec- 
tures you will hear, you yourself write the official title in 
the left-hand column. You then get the Quaestor 
to affix his teste in the second column. This entitles 
you to a seat, and if the course happens to be a popular 
one, attended by large numbers, the sooner you secure 
your seat the better. After " hearing " a week or two, 
you make your visit upon the professor himself, selecting 
some hour in the forenoon when he has no official 
engagement. If you wish to conform rigorously to eti- 
quette, you must appear in grand toilet, i. e., in dress 
coat and kid-gloves, although the chances are ninety-nine 
in a hundred that in so doing you will catch the profes- 
sor himself in wrapper and slippers, unshaven and smok- 
ing a long pipe. Your appearance in grand toilet is an 
intimation that you not merely wish to have your attend- 
ance at lectures certified, but that you know " what is 
what " and take the liberty of presenting yourself to him. 
as gentleman to gentleman. Whether you remain to chat 
for a few minutes or simply present your book for certifi- 
cation, will depend upon the manner of the professor 
himself; some instructors make it a point to detain the 
student for about ten minutes, others regard the affair as 
something to be disposed of in the quickest manner 
possible, and scarcely even ask the student to sit down. 
With regard to the second certification, given at the close 
of the lecture course, there is no fixed rule ; any time 
not too long before the end of the semester will do ; you 
can even wait until the next semester or still later, in fact 



40 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

you need not go in person, but can send the book around 
by your servant-girl or your boot-black. 

The certifying to attendance at lectures has lapsed into 
an empty form. Every now and then a professor, inspired 
with unwonted zeal for his vocation, tries to make it a 
means of enforcing attendance, of preventing " cutting." 
But such isolated attempts speedily die out and are for- 
gotten ; if you show yourself two or three times at the 
beginning and a dozen times at the end of the semester, 
your attendance is certified as a matter of course, 
although you may have " cut " the entire intervening time. 
As an item of my own personal experience, I can state 
that Professor Gneist of Berlin certified to my attend- 
ance at his lectures on the Institutes, {Jleissig besuchi), 
although he must have known, if he knew anything, that 
I had not been inside his lecture-room within a month. 
The real proof of a student's diligence is not the profes- 
sor's certificate but ability to pass a searching examination. 

In a large city, like Berlin, it is not even necessary to 
call upon your professor; the latter remains for a few 
minutes after every lecture during the first week or two, 
so as to give the students an opportunity of coming for- 
ward and presenting their Anmclduttgs-bilcher. 

The student-card, like the Anmeldungs-buc/i, is a 
peculiarly German institution. When you are matricu- 
lated, not only is your name entered in the general univer- 
sity register, but you must be inscribed under some one of 
the four general faculties, viz. : theology, law, medicine, 
philosophy. You then receive a card, not much larger 



MA TRICULA TION AND LECTURES. 41 

than an ordinary visiting card, of stout pasteboard. On 
the face of the card is placed your name, Herr N. N., aus 
(from) such and such a place, student in such a faculty. 
On the reverse is a printed announcement, couched in 
the knottiest of German sentences, that none but the 
accomplished scholar of both English and German can 
untie, to the effect that you are always to carry this card 
about you on your person, and produce it whenever it 
may be demanded by the university or town police, under 
penalty of a fine of twenty Silber Groschen (50 cents). 

This simple card is your Legitimation. In a university 
that has a complete jurisdiction of its own, as Gottingen 
has, at least did have in the days of which I write, pro- 
ducing this card secures you against all municipal arrest. 
You are member of a special corporation, and as such are 
amenable only to the university court ; neither civil nor 
criminal action can be brought against you in the ordin- 
ary courts, but must be laid before the university court in 
the first instance. If this body should find you guilty of 
a crime or a grave misdemeanor, it would then surrender 
you to the Supreme Court, Criminal Section, the German 
equivalent to our Circuit Court. You cannot be arrested 
or locked up by a town policeman ; all he can do with 
you is to keep you for a few minutes in custody, until he 
finds a University Pedell (beadle) to take you in charge. 
I hope to be able to speak more at length in another 
place of this curious relic of mediaevalism. 

Your card in your pocket and your Ajimeldiingsbiich 
in your hand, ^n company with ten or twelve other candi- 

*4 • 



42 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

dates, you are then ushered into the august presence of 
the Rector magnificiis* or Chancellor of the University. 
You will probably find him to be a man much as other 
men, only looking a trifle uncomfortable in his dress-coat. 
The rector makes a short harangue, of which, if you are 
in the backward condition that I was, you will probably 
understand one word in five, but the substance of which 
is that he is rejoiced to see so many promising young 
men aspirants to the higher culture imparted by the 
Georgia Augusta (the official name of the university), 
and that he hopes you will be good fellows and make the 
most of your time and opportunities. In token of which, 
each candidate in turn shakes hands with him. You are 
then ushered out, to make room for a fresh squad who 
have just got their books and cards. 

The ceremony is over ; you are a German student, or a 
student in Germany, at last, ready to absorb all the 
knowledge and Bildung that your Alma Mater deals out 
with lavish hand. If you happen to be of an amiable, 
convivial turn of mind, your spirits will be buoyant ; you 
will consider it your privilege and duty to celebrate the 
occasion by " dedicating " a bowl of punch to your elder 
brethren and compatriots who have helped you through 
the ordeal by telling you where to go and what to do. 
You and they will then make an afternoon of it, driving 
out to the Gleichen or the Plesse to enjoy the scenery, 
and indulge in coffee in the open air, and on your return, 



*P7i>rectory in universities where the sovereign is the nominal head of the 
corporation. 



MA TRICULA TION AND LECTURES. 43 

if still unsatisfied, you can make a night of it at Fritz's 
or the Universitatskneipe. Should you wake up the next 
morning with a headache, a Jammer or a Kater, you can 
derive consolation from two circumstances : first, that it 
is only what has happened to thousands before you and 
will happen to thousands after you ; next, that you have 
fairly and honorably initiated yourself into student-life. 
You know now what it is to be a student, as Victor Hugo 
might felicitously express it, avant (Tavoir crache du 
latin dans la boutique dun professeur. 

Having habituated yourself to the sense of your new 
dignity, the next step is to decide upon the professors with 
whom you are to "hear." This will not be so easy as 
you might suppose. Unless you have come to the uni- 
versity with a preconceived plan of study, you will find 
yourself embarrassed by the wealth from which you are to 
choose. Fortunately the professors give you ample time 
for making a suitable selection. 

The university opens nominally, it may be assumed, on 
the 15th of October. One professor announces that he 
will begin to read on the i8th, another on the 20th, 
a third on the 25th ; in fact, I have known one professor 
to begin his course on the 9th of November. Each pro- 
fessor, it has been already observed, is a law unto himself; 
the main point is that he read at least one course of lec- 
tures each semester, on a subject of his own selection, for 
which he has properly qualified himself, and that he cover 
about so much ground. Whether he begins late and 
stops early, is a matter in his own discretion. This is 



44 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES 

not indifference or sloth on the part of the professors, 
but rather a deliberate forecasting of time and labor. 
Where the work is heavy and the field wide, the professor 
will not waste an hour. Vangerow, for instance, in lec- 
turing at Heidelberg on the Pandects, used to begin on 
the very first day after the nominal opening day, and con- 
tinue, averaging three hours daily throughout the winter, 
until two weeks after the semester had nominally closed. 

Each course of lectures is paid for separately, the 
prices varying with the number of hours occupied in the 
week. Thus a single course, as it is called, one taking 
four or five hours a week, is charged about $5 ; a double 
course, one of ten or twelve hours a week, would cost ^10. 
The usual double courses are those on the Pandects, on 
Anatomy and Physiology, and on Chemistry. The high- 
est number of courses (double and single) that I have 
taken in any one semester (my fifth) was four, aggregating 
twenty-five hours a week, for which I paid between ^25 
and $30, a small price, in view of the quantity and 
quality of the instruction. 

Lecture-fees are paid to the Quaestor^ and not to the 
professor direct, although this latter eventually receives 
them, or the greater part of them, from the Quaestor. 
The new-comer will be puzzled at the distinction 
between lectures ptiblice, privatim, and privatissime. Pub- 
lic lectures are those held by a professor gratuitously, 
on some minor topic of general interest. In the Prus- 
sian universities each professor is held to announce at 
least one such lecture a term. The privatim lectures 



MA TRICULA TION AND LECTURES. 45 

are the ordinary ones, for which fees are paid and which 
are regarded as the substance of university teaching. A 
lecture privatissinie is nothing more than our private 
lesson, the terms and times for which are settled by 
agreement between the professor and the student. The 
fees for it are not paid to the quaestor, and the lecture 
or lesson, is not entered in the Anmeldiingsbuch. 

I have used more than once the expression " a course 
of lectures " ; to guard against misapprehension, it 
may be advisable to stop and explain at length. By 
a course of lectures in a German university is meant 
a series of lectures on one subject, delivered by one 
man, during one semester. A German university has, 
strictly speaking, tio course 0/ instruction j there are no 
classes, the students are not arranged according to their 
standing by years, there are no recitations, there is no 
grading, until the candidate presents himself at the 
end of three or four years for his doctor's degree, 
when the quality of his attainments is briefly and 
roughly indicated by the wording of the diploma. 
More of this hereafter. For the present it will be suffi- 
cient to say that all students stand on a footing of 
perfect equality in the eye of university, and that 
theoretically each one is free to select such lectures in 
his faculty as he sees fit to hear. Practically, the 
case is somewhat different. While there is no curri- 
culum, no routine of studies and hours, through which 
all students have to pass, as in our colleges and, to a 
less extent, in the English universities, still there are 



46 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

certain limitations to the freedom of "hearing," which 
are occasioned by the nature of all study. When a 
young man attends the university, he is supposed to 
have some definite object in view; he wishes to fit 
himself for becoming a theologian, or a lawyer, or a 
physician, or an historian, or a teacher in the public 
schools, or a chemist, or a mathematician. In other 
words, he is to get his professional outfit. But this 
of itself implies the pursuance of a certain routine or 
order in study. The primary or fundamental branches 
must be mastered first, before the student can take up 
the more advanced. In medicine, for instance, he can- 
not understand pathology, Mdthout having studied 
anatomy and physiology. So in chemistry, a knowl- 
edge of general organic and inorganic chemistry is 
required before passing to analysis. In law, the rou- 
tine is to take up the Institutes and History of Roman 
Legislation [Aeusscre RechtsgescJiichtc), then the Pan- 
dects and Doctrine of Inheritance, then Criminal and 
Ecclesiastical Law, before venturing upon such mat- 
ters as the Practica (practical exercises) and theories 
of Procedure. But this is something altogether diff- 
erent from a curriculum in which mathematics, clas- 
sics, metaphysics, history, and the natural sciences are 
pursued simultaneously. It is nothing more or less 
than conformity to the organic law of development. 
Furthermore, it is not formally obligatory upon the 
student, but left to his own good sense. I do not say 
that a professor of pathology or of chemistry would 



MA TRICULA TION AND LECTURES. 47 

not refuse to admit into his clinique or his analytical 
laboratory a student who had neglected to qualify 
himself in anatomy or in general chemistry. In all 
probability the professor would, and very properly. 
But in the philosophical and legal faculties, with 
which I am more familiar, I can assert confidently that 
the utmost freedom is allowed. One can "hear" the 
Pandects before the Institutes, Criminal Law before 
the Law of Inheritance, as I myself have done. Stu- 
dents generally follow a certain routine, but not so 
much because it is octroye, as because they find it to be 
the easiest and best way to a right understanding of 
the subject. 

Not having any inspirations after medical, theologi- 
cal, or legal attainments at that time, in fact not having 
any plan of study at all beyond mastering the lan- 
guage and literature, I had myself entered in the phil- 
osophical faculty, as being the one that offered the 
widest range of lectures from which to select. Under 
the pilotage of H — , a countryman who had been pur- 
suing classical studies for two years, I went the rounds 
of what the German students call hosp'tiren, i. e., drop- 
ping into a lecture to see how you like the lecturer. 
This practice prevails to a considerable extent at the 
university, at least at the beginning of a semester. It 
is practically the only way that newly matriculated 
students have of deciding between rival lecturers or of 
selecting some lecture that is not embraced in the 
ordinary routine of study. On this, as on so many 



48 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

points, the Germans display a great deal of practical 
sense. The student is free to roam about for two or 
three weeks, but at the end of that time it is expected 
of him that he come to a decision and settle down 
either to steady work or to steady idleness. Conse- 
quently, if you should attend regularly a certain course 
of lectures, occupying a seat and taking notes, with- 
out presenting your Anmeldungsbuch to the professor, 
you would probably be waited upon by the beadle, at 
your room, and interrogated as to your studies, what 
you had paid for, what you intended to pay for, and 
the like. In other words, your freedom of hospitiren 
will not be sufifered to amount to unmistakable 
"sponging." 

I availed myself pretty thoroughly of the hospitiren- 
privilege, attending one or two lectures in every 
course delivered upon subjects connected in any way 
with letters. The philosophical faculty covers every 
thing that is not law, medicine, or theology. It 
embraces consequently the exact sciences, mathema- 
tics, physics, chemistry, and the like, the descriptive 
sciences, botany, physiology, geology, the historical 
sciences, political history, political economy, finance, 
the humanities, that is, Latin and Greek, Alterthums- 
wissenschaft, Oriental and general philology, and the 
modern languages, as they are taught philologically 
and critically. The field, therefore, is immense, and 
often overlaps those of the other faculties. Thus the 
medical student, being held to a general knowledge 



MATRICULA TION AND LECTURES. 49 

of chemistry, botany, and comparative physiology 
and anatomy, has to pass at least three semesters 
under the philosophical faculty, although enrolled in 
the medical. Hebrew, as a study in linguistics, is not 
regarded as a part of theology proper, but the profes- 
sor of Hebrew is a member of the philosophical 
faculty. Candidates for orders, by the way, are 
obliged to master the outlines of Hebrew grammar 
at the gymnasium, before entering the university. On 
the other hand, students who obtain the degree of 
Ph. D. for studies in history and political economy 
are examined in certain legal topics, viz. : Institutes, 
romische Rechtsgechichte, and deutsche Rechts-und Verfass- 
ungsgeschichte, that is, the history of Roman legisla- 
tion and constitutional forms in Germany. This 
would cover nearly two semesters in the legal faculty. 
The German theory is that no one is qualified to 
become an historian or an office-holder of the higher 
grades, who has not an insight at least into the ele- 
ments of jurisprudence. 

In making my selection of lectures, I was deter- 
mined by one simple consideration : which of the 
many distinguished men whom I heard would be likely 
to teach me the most German. I decided upon two, 
about as opposite in manner and substance as can 
well be imagined : Ernst Curtius, now professor in 
Berlin, who lectured on Greek Art, and Ritter, since 
deceased, who lectured on the History of Modern 
Philosophy. Curtius, then a comparatively young 
5 



50 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

man, had an energetic and rapid, but very distinct 
enunciation. As his lectures were to a large extent 
the analysis and criticism of the remains of Greek 
art, such as temples, friezes, statues, intaglios, and the 
like, I judged that the subject itself would not only be 
interesting and profitable, but that the prints which 
were passed around the class during the lecture would 
give me at least a visible image of what the lecturer 
was speaking about. I made no attempt to take notes. 
In fact, had I been even a much better German scholar 
than I was, I could not have written fast enough. The 
auditors generally seemed to listen rather than to 
write, and to use their pens only for noting down 
leading principles and important facts. I contented 
myself with jotting down now and then a word or a 
phrase that I could arrest in the general flow of the 
language, with a view to studying over it at my 
rooms. The chief good that the lectures of Professor 
Curtius did me was to train my ear day by day to the 
flow of very rapid and very elegant German. This 
point, it seems to me, has not been sufficiently attended 
to. It is one thing to read a work in the privacy and 
quiet of your own room, but it is quite another to 
listen for an hour to the same author as the words 
come fast and warm from his lips. Even if you do 
not catch at first more than a thought or two here and 
there, and the body of the discourse sounds as the 
tangled maze of a symphony does to the uninitiated 
in music, still you are training your perceptive facul- 



MA TRICULA TION AND LECTURES. 5 1 



ties far more than you are apt to suspect. Both ear 
and brain are on the stretch, you put forth your best 
efforts to seize and hold the fleeting breath ; in short, 
you work under pressure, whereas in your room you 
are apt to dilly-dally over your books, to fall asleep, as 
it were, for want of outside stimulus. Hearing, of 
course, does not exclude reading; both are necessary, 
and the one supplements the other. But I take the 
liberty of calling especial attention to the importance 
of hearing German well delivered,, in view of the fact 
that only too many English and Americans neglect 
this element of training. 

Professor Ritter was, as I have intimated, the exact 
opposite of his colleague. He spoke very slowly and 
deliberately, from full notes, with a mild, almost dron- 
ing intonation, so that it was possible, even for me, to 
write down every word. In his lectures, then, I used 
my pen industriously, and succeeded in making an ex- 
act reproduction of the professors text. This it was 
my practice to take to my room immediately after the 
lecture hour, which was from four to five in the after- 
noon, spending the interval to tea time in going over 
it again, grammar and dictionary in hand, and writing 
the translations of words and phrases on the margin 
and between the lines. The reader may perhaps doubt 
the possibility of one's writing down correctly expres- 
sions which he does not understand at the time. But 
in a language where the pronunciation conforms so 
closely to the spelling, and the words are run together 



52 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

SO little, as is the case in German, the feat is not at all 
difficult, provided the lecturer reads slowly enough to 
let each word strike the ear as a well rounded unit. 
Besides, German is emphatically a language of termi- 
nations and prefixes, which give the ear a chance to 
rest and the pen a chance to abbreviate. It will suf- 
fice to call the reader's attention to such syllables as 
ei, heit, kcit, scnaft, ting, /ii'ss, ling, thum, ig, /ic/i, t'sc/i, /os, 
fach, fait, sam, bar, and the entire group of the so 
called separable and inseparable prefixes. I can assure 
the reader that during the first two months certainly 
I wrote down, from dictation as it were, between one 
and two hundred pages by mere sound, generally un- 
able to recognize the connection between two succes- 
sive words, unless they happened to stand in the 
simplest grammatical relation, and nearly always un- 
able to follow the transition from sentence to sentence. 
My feelings during the process were somewhat akin, 
I suppose, to those of the compositor who sets up 
" copy " in a foreign language. 

Besides a general knowledge of German, I made 
one valuable acquisition through Professor Ritter's 
lectures, to wit, an acquaintance with the vocabulary 
of abstract and philosophical terms. This, it is well 
known, is the most difficult part of the language. 
Our abstract terms are taken from the Latin and 
Greek, as they are in French, so that the reader who 
is familiar with their meaning in one language can 
easily recognize them in the other. All that an 



MA TRICULA TION AND LECTURES. 53 

Englishman or an American needs to prepare himself 
for reading a French treatise on art, or science, or his- 
tory is a slight knowledge of the pronouns and irreg- 
ular verbs. It is only where concrete terms come in 
question, names of objects and things, such as bread, 
house, dog and the like, that the two languages diverge. 
These concrete terms in German coincide generally 
with the English. But the abstract terms have been 
developed by means of suffixes and prefixes from 
German root-forms, and cannot be comprehended 
without an insight into the genius of the language. 
I mean such words as Einbildung imagination, Gedacht- 
niss memory, Vernunft reason, Geschichte history, 
Begriff conception. Furthermore, the German abstract 
terms are not always the exact equivalents of the 
English words employed to translate them in the dic- 
tionary. Thus the German word Urtheil, given in the 
vocabularies as denoting judgment, covers only that 
word as it may be used in the sense of opinion, the 
product of the faculty of judging; the faculty itself 
is designated by Urtheilskraft. This is only one ex- 
ample out of thousands. The beginner will find 
himself tripped up continually by these abstract terms ; 
they are hard to understand and harder still to remem- 
ber and apply. They really represent more of the 
genius of the language than any mere inflectional or 
syntactic peculiarities. These latter will become of 
themselves a matter of routine, but the derivation of 
words, especially of abstract terms, calls for the most 



54 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

delicate appreciation of the formative, what the Ger- 
mans call the building elements of the language. As 
a means of acquiring this appreciation, I can heartily 
recommend a course of lectures on the history of 
philosophy. A course upon pure speculative phil- 
osophy would be altogether too difficult for the 
beginner. But a course something like the one 
delivered by Professor Ritter, beginning with Roger 
Bacon and coming down to Kant and Hegel, inter- 
spersed with short, easy biographical and historical 
notices, seems to me to blend sufficiently the abstract 
and the concrete. The hearer gets the proper play of 
abstract terms, while the very effort of writing them 
down one by one in ignorance of their meaning, or at 
least the exact shade of meaning, and afterward 
patiently educing the sense with the help of his dic- 
tionary or of his teacher, fixes them firmly in the 
memory. At all events, the lecturer should speak 
slowly and with the clearest articulation. 

The lecture-system of Germany has been extolled 
and decried with equal injustice. Like every other 
system of man's invention, it is confessedly imperfect. 
One who attends lectures is not necessarily on the 
road to knowledge, one who lectures is not necessarily 
wiser or more interesting than a printed book. But 
taken all in all, I think that it works well. It gives 
the lecturer an opportunity of revising his own 
studies and incorporating fresh knowledge; every 
course of lectures can be made as it were a new 



MATRICULATION AND LECTURES. 55 

edition, which is not usually practicable with a 
printed book. It gives the hearer the ripest fruits 
of research direct from the investigator himself, it 
quickens the faculties of apprehension and stimulates 
subsequent study and collateral reading. Say what 
they will, the devotees of the Socratic method will 
never succeed in arguing the persotial element in the 
lecture-system out of existence. It is well enough to 
be made to feel that you are wrong, but it is a higher 
gain to be made to feel that some one else is right, 
and that you are catching from his lips the thoughts 
over which he has spent days and years of patient 
toil. 

There are as many different styles of lecturing in 
Germany as there are different professors. They can 
all be reduced, however, under three general cate- 
gories : the system of dictating everything, the sys- 
tem of dictating part and explaining part, the system 
of rapid delivery. By the first is meant that plan 
in pursuance of which the professor reads off the 
entire lecture at a uniform rate of speed, slow enough 
to allow his hearers, unless they should be very 
clumsy writers, to take down every or nearly every 
word. Under the second system, the professor dic- 
tates a paragraph at a time, reading so slowly that his 
hearers cannot help catching it, and even pausing and 
repeating, if he should see that any one in the audi- 
ence is at fault, and then proceeds to comment rapidly 
and in a colloquial tone upon what has just been die- 



56 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

tated. Under the third system, that of rapid delivery, 
the instructor speaks after the fashion of our pubHc 
lecturers, aiming more to impress his students, to arouse 
and stimulate them, than to give them something that 
they can carry home "black on white." Many of the 
more popular lecturers on political history or on topics 
connected with literary history are delivered in this style, 
especially where the professor can take for granted that 
his hearers have some previous knowledge, so that his 
remarks are as it were the novel presentment of an old 
theme. But in general it may be safely asserted that 
wherever exact, positive information is to be conveyed, 
as for instance in law, or in the descriptive and exact 
sciences, there the only systems followed are the first and 
the second. 

Lectures are usually delivered with what is called tem- 
pus, which is emphatically wt*/ "on time." Tempus, or 
the " academic quarter," as it is otherwise styled, denotes 
that a lecture announced, e. g., for ten o'clock, is not 
begun until ten or fifteen minutes after the hour. The 
reason for this apparent procrastination is a practical 
one. It not unfrequently happens that the lecturer, to 
save the time and trouble of going to and fro between his 
home and the Collegien-haus, will secure two successive 
hours for two lectures. Still, it is not desirable to read 
one hundred and twenty minutes on a stretch; the 
pause, then, is very opportune, giving the lecturer a 
chance to rest his voice. But the chief utility of the 
"academic quarter" is for the, students themselves. As 



MA TRICULA TION AND LECTURES. 5 7 

many of them have three or four lectures in succession, 
perhaps in different Buildings, the pause enables them to 
make ihe transition without inconvenience. Besides, it is 
really a blessing in disguise to be able to idle ten minutes 
between each two hours. One who knows by actual 
trial what it is to attend lectures every day in the week, 
say from nine o'clock to one, or even from eight to one, 
as I was circumstanced on the Saturdays of my last 
winter semester (i 863-1 864), will appreciate the relief 
afforded by such brief respites. To fingers grown stiff 
and numb from constant writing, to brains become hot 
and confused, the " quarter " comes as a positive boon ; 
you put on your hat and hasten into the open air for a 
short stroll, to meet your friends and acquaintances and 
have a little chat about every-day matters. Still, not- 
withstanding all its advantages, the academic quarter is 
not infrequently reduced to very narrow limits. The Pan- 
dects are considered the " heaviest " lecture in the legal 
faculty, that is to say, they never occupy less than twelve 
hours a week through the winter semester. Mommsen,* 
with whom I heard them in Gottingen, began at five 
minutes past nine, read without interruption until ten 
minutes past ten, then made a pause of five minutes only, 
and continued until five or ten minutes past eleven. As 
he read rapidly, it was all that one could do to keep up 
with him. From the moment he entered the room until 
he rose from his desk to leave, there was not a pause, 

♦ A cousin of the celebrated historian in Berlin. 



58 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 



every pen traveled over the paper in feverish haste. But 
the worst " grind " was at Heidelberg, under Vangerow, 
since deceased. This celebrated lecturer was in the 
habit of reading — also on the Pandects — from nine to 
half past ten, then making a pause of fifteen minutes, and 
reading on until one o'clock, and even later. 

Every lecture is opened with the stereotyped formula, 
Meine Herreti (Gentlemen) ! The professors have their 
private meeting-room, from which they proceed to the 
lecture-room. In my day, there was the utmost license at 
Gottingen with regard to smoking. The students smoked 
on the stairs and in the entries of the Collegien-haus at 
all times, and even in the lecture-rooms themselves 
until the entrance of the professor. In Berlin, the rule 
was different; smoking was not permitted any where 
within the University buildings. 

As a rule, a university lecture is a simple, straightfor- 
ward enunciation of fact or opinion, without any attempt 
at brilliancy of style. You are seated with a dozen or 
two or three dozen other young men like yourself, smok- 
ing, perhaps, and chatting with your neighbor. The 
bench on which you sit is hard and uncomfortable, the 
elevated bench before you is inscribed with all sorts of 
devices and names, the legacy of former generations. 
Your pen, ink and paper are spread out before you. The 
door opens softly, the form of the lecturer moves quietly 
across the room and ascends the rostrum. Without pre- 
amble, without prelude, the hour's work begins. Meine 
Herren — Thomas vofi Aquina sah in der vernunftigen 



MA TRICULA TION AND LECTURES. 59 

Seele den Kbchsten Grad der weltlichen Dinge (Thomas 
Aquinas regarded the rational soul as the climax of things 
earthly). The lecturer has simply resumed where he had 
broken off the day before. I have listened to lectures by 
many different professors in different universities, but I 
can not truthfully say that I have ever heard one that 
could be called brilliant. The aim of a German profes- 
sor is not so much to arouse or interest or even persuade 
his hearers, as to teach them. The substance of his dis- 
course is the unfolding of truth, grave, solid truth. The 
utmost that he permits himself is an occasional touch of 
humor, when the subject will bear it. Thus, Zachariae, 
in his lectures on Criminal Law, was rather fond of show- 
ing up certain infractions of the criminal code in their 
ludicrous aspects, and expatiating upon the comically 
quaint nomenclature of the Carolina, or Code of Crimi- 
nal Procedure enacted by Charles V. in the sixteenth 
century. One phrase in particular he never grew weary 
of rolling out with gusto : Idem, so ein Weibsbild. 
Gneist, in Berlin, lectured to his students about as a New 
York lawyer argues a motion before a judge with whom 
he is on easy terms, feeling confident that he has the 
court already on his side, Mommsen was always intensely 
earnest, speaking energetically and almost sharply at 
times, in his anxiety to impress his meaning upon his 
hearers. But by far the ablest lecture that I have ever 
heard, in Germany or at home, was one delivered by 
Vangerow. Happening to be in Heidelberg on a visit in 
October, 1864, I profited by the occasion to hospitiren 



6o GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

with the then most prominent jurist in Germany. The 
subject was thoroughly famiUar to me, as I was at the 
time in full preparation for my examination at Gottingen, 
which came off a few weeks later. The auditorium was 
crowded, — there could not have been much less than 
two hundred students present, — but the silence and 
attention were profound. Seated on a small raised plat- 
form near the center of the room, the lecturer spoke for 
an hour and a half in an easy, clear, sustained voice, 
without pause and without break, on one of the most 
complicated points in Roman Law. He had no notes, 
not even a schedule, only a slip of paper, on which were 
written one or two references to passages to be cited from 
the Digest ; yet the ideas and words came forth as clear 
and logical and well placed as if the lecturer were read- 
ing from a printed book. The subject was one which 
the German spirit delights to develop after the I, A, i, a 
a, f3. y. . . . style, in all sorts of main and subsidiary 
paragraphs, with minor and modifying clauses, excep- 
tions, qualifications, and reservations, references to foot 
notes, and the like. But the lecturer had such an insight 
into and such a grasp of his subject that "his discourse 
seemed to be nothing less than the easy, spontaneous 
process of organic evolution ; it seemed to grow of itself 
out of his brain. There was no brilliancy, no flight of 
eloquence, no outburst of humor or sarcasm; the lec- 
ture would scarcely have been intelligible to one not 
familiar with the study. But it was a masterly didactic 
statement of the clear, crystalline truths of the law, intro- 



MA TRICULA TION AND LECTURES. 6 1 

ducing nothing superfluous, omitting nothing necessary, 
and putting everything in the right place. Only the best 
arguments of men like Webster and O'Conor could equal 
it for sustained power and absolute logical coherency. I 
heard from Heidelberg students that Vangerow lectured 
in this fashion from three to four hours daily through the 
winter, and from two to three hours through the summer 
term. If we add to this his duties as dean of the legal 
faculty and president of the Collegium for government 
references, his unremitting activity as an author, and — I 
regret to say — domestic troubles of the most painful 
kind, we need not wonder that one of such prodigious 
powers should sink into the grave while still in the prime 
of life. 

The paper used for taking notes is of a peculiar kind. 
A German student rarely if ever has what we call a note- 
book or a copy-book. He uses the so called Pandecten 
or Collegienpapier^ plain, white writing-paper, unruled ; 
the page varies in size, but is generally what book- 
publishers designate as lexicon-octavo untrimmed. Six 
or eight sheets (twelve or sixteen pages) are stitched 
together at the back, making a Heft. The Heft, before 
it is sold, is put under a press of which the face is smaller 
than the face of the page. This blocks out by indentation 
a sort of inner page, leaving a wide margin. The inner 
page alone is used for writing in the lecture-hour; the 
margin is reserved for subsequent corrections and addi- 
tions. At the end of the semester, the Hefte of any one 

course can be bound up in a volume for preservation. 
6 



62 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

The advantages of this paper are that it enables the 
student to dispense with an armful qf cumbersome note- 
books — he has only to carry as many Hefte at a time as 
he has separate lectures to attend — and prevents the 
waste of paper. In buying a note-book, the student 
runs the risk of getting one either too small or too large ; 
but with the Pandectenpapier, he has only to add a 
Heft from time to time, and he can also intercalate as 
long as the Hefte are unbound. It has always been 
a matter of surprise to me that the Pandectenpapier has 
not been introduced into our American colleges. It is 
by far the most practical method of taking notes. The 
Hefte are carried in a small black leather portfolio 
{Mappe), just large enough to hold three or four at a 
time, and flexible enough to be rolled up and carried 
conveniently under the arm. The notes are always 
written in ink. The inkstand generally used is not flat- 
bottomed, as with us, but terminates in a sharp point of 
iron, which can be thrust into the desk. When carried 
in the pocket, the point is protected by a capsule of horn 
that screws over it. A stranger visiting a university 
lecture-room for the first time would be puzzled to 
account for the innumerable round holes punched in 
the desks ; a naturalist might call them fossil foot-prints 
of the Bubo maximus. 

The conduct of the students during the lecture-hour 
is propriety itself. One might attend hundreds of lec- 
tures in different universities, without witnessing any 
disorder or whispering. The first attempt to create 



MA TRICULA TION AND LECTURES. 63 

such disturbances as disgrace the halls of our colleges 
would be punished by the summary expulsion of all the 
offenders. To an American faculty, the discipline in the 
German universities will appear lax in more than one 
respect. There are no chapel-services, no marks, no 
tutorial supervision. The student is free to live where 
and as he pleases, his movements are unfettered. But 
whatever else the university may wink at, it never tole- 
rates disrespect and disorder in the lecture-room. The 
student is treated as a man having a sense of propriety 
and duty. If he does not like a particular professor, he 
can hear another ; if he does not like a particular uni- 
versity, he can go elsewhere. If he does not feel disposed 
to attend on a particular day, he can stay away. But if 
he attends, he is expected to conduct himself as in all 
respects a man. There have been, I admit, disturbances 
in some of the German universities. But they were not 
mere boyish freaks, but political demonstrations insti- 
tuted for some special purpose and usually backed up by 
a clique in the faculty itself and by outside sympathy. 
The most notable instances were the Anti-German, 
Bohemian demonstrations at Prague, ten or fifteen years 
ago, which brought about the appointment of two sets of 
professors in all the departments, one for the German, 
the other for the Czechish students. 

The German student, however, has one privilege which 
the American has not; he can manifest his wishes by 
scraping his feet on the floor. If a professor lectures 
too fast, or fails to explain a point to the complete satis- 



64 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

faction of his hearers, or if he lectures over the hour, 
instantly you will hear three or four pairs of shoes at 
work. This hint is always taken by the professor in 
good part. With regard to lecturing over the hour, the 
practice varies. Where the students know that the 
course is a heavy one, in which the professor has need 
of all the time he can get, they are not so apt to inter- 
rupt, unless the time of " grace " should exceed five 
minutes. More than once I have heard Mommsen say : 
" Gentlemen, excuse me for detaining you one moment 
longer, but I must finish this subject to-day." But where 
the professor is merely indulging in explanatory " talk," 
he is usually cut short without much grace. 

The lecture-rooms, in their general appearance, are 
unattractive, not to say cheerless. Even in Berlin and 
Leipsic, they are much inferior to our recently con- 
structed halls, while in places like Halle, Tubingen, Mar- 
burg — and Gottingen ten years ago — the want of ven- 
tilation is shocking. Still, one soon becomes used to the 
minor discomforts of dingy windows, hard benches, and 
close air, and learns to take comfort in the world of 
ideas. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Auf der Mensur. 

/'"^NE day T , of New York, dropped into my 

^^ room before dinner, saying: Don't you wish to 
see a first-class Mensur this afternoon ? As a graduate 
of a respectable American college, there was the pre- 
sumption that I must recognize the obvious connection 
between Mensur and mensuration ; yet my rushlight of 
mathematical experience was insufficient to illuminate 
the German term, which, it is perhaps needless to state, 
had not come up in the round of my grammatical stu- 
dies. Did it mean a surveying party, or a mathematical 
orgie, a concourse of " delicious triangles ? " I had to 
call upon my better initiated countryman for an explana- 
tion, and learned that Mensur was the student-word for 
the dueling ground, that is to say, the area measured off, 
and hence — by extension — for the duel itself. Natur- 
ally desirous to get a practical insight into the modus 
operandi of this peculiar act of student life in Germany, 
concerning which I had heard so much, I accepted the 

invitation as unceremoniously as it was given. T 

himself was not a member of a Corps or Verbindung, but 
having spent three or four semesters in Gottingen, was 
on terms of easy acquaintance with many corps-students. 
*6 



66 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

We arranged to meet in his room immediately after 

dinner, when I should be presented to S , of the 

" Hanoverians," who was to conduct us to the Mensur. 

So T went his way to the Laboratory, and I resumed 

work on my translations. 

From the windows of E 's room, which faced on the 

street leading out through the Geismar Gate, I had 
watched almost every other day students in numbers 
flocking past with Schl ger and gloves, even in broad 
daylight, and learned that they were on their way to the 
dueling ground. The openness of their movements sur- 
prised me, as I had seen more than one picture of the 
arrest of dueling parties by University beadles, and sup- 
posed, before coming to Gottingen, that encounters of 
the kind were kept as secret as possible. The winter 
of 1 86 1-2 was what might be called a star-season. There 
has always been a good deal of fighting in Gottingen, 
perhaps more than at any other university in proportion 
to the number of students. But this my first winter in 
the place was a remarkable one. There was an unusual 
number of veterans, big, heavy, scarred fighting-cocks, 
among all the corps, and especially among the West- 
phalians. The chief casus belli, however, was the estab- 
lishment of a new corps, the Normans, by some new 
comers, among whom were two brothers from Heidel- 
berg, named Mendelssohn, relatives, I believe, of the 
celebrated composer. The bantling, as might have been 
expected, had to undergo a baptism of " blood and iron." 
The rowing at one time was prodigious. Whenever the 



AUF DER MENSUR. 67 

Normans returned from their Kneipe in the evening, they 
were beset by the students of the other corps, chaffed and 
huffed, and challenged right and left. But as they were 
all fighting men, in fact, in Western parlance, *' spoiling for 
a fight," this was no great hardship. The elder Mendels- 
sohn was their leader, their Haupthahn, and, to his credit 
be it said, performed his duties manfully. After fighting 
two or three duels a week throughout the winter, and 
escaping without a scratch, he got the consilium abeundi 
from the University Court and had to retire to the 
shades of private life, leaving twenty or thirty slight " un- 
pleasantnesses " still pending. Others of the Normans 
were also relegated, and the corps in consequence was 
broken up. There were grounds for suspecting that it 
became too great an eye-sore to the University judge. 

But all through the winter months the Paukerei was 
kept up, and one could see dozens of students going 
about with bandaged cheeks and noses. On the particu- 
lar day of which I now write, the event was to be a duel 

between Mendelssohn and Von H , the leader of the 

Bremensians, 

At two o'clock I made my appearance at T,'s room, and 
found him and his friend S. quietly discussing coffee and 
cigars after the approved German fashion. S., by the 
way, was a tall, good-looking, bespectacled young man, 
anything but a "rower," to judge by his manners and 
actions. I had the pleasure of meeting him by the 
merest chance in Vienna, during the summer of 1872, 



68 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

and learned that he had become a manufacturer. At the 
university he was a student of chemistry. 

When the cigars and coffee were at an end, we strolled 
up the Kurze Geismar street and out of the gate along 
the chauss^e. We were preceded and followed by other 
students in knots of three or four, at wide intervals, to 
avoid the appearance of a crowd. After issuing from 
the gate, I observed younger students, Fuchse, stationed 
on each side of the road every hundred feet, acting as 
scouts or sentries to give warning in case of the approach 
of a Pedell* or other suspicious looking person. Having 
S. as our escort, we passed without exciting comment. 
Under ordinary circumstances, a duel is, for the outside 
world, a private affair ; no one but the immediate backers 
of the duelists is permitted to attend. But a duel fought 
under the sanction of the S. C, the Senioren Convent, /. <?., 
under the auspices of the corps as a body, and according 
to their rules, and upon the corps Mensur, is open to all 
corps-students, and to the friends and acquaintances 
whom they may bring with them. The corps resemble, 
in more than one respect, the secret societies of our 
American colleges. Not that there is any element of 
secrecy about them ; on the contrary, their statutes of 
organization and by-laws must be submitted for the 
approval of the university, and their meeting-rooms, 
Kneipen, are not screened from the public gaze. Out- 
siders are often invited t|) their reunions, which are 

* The orthodox student term for the beadle \s poodle. 



A UF DER MENSUR. 69 

nothing more than social gatherings held twice a week, 
generally on Wednesday and Saturday evening. The 
Corps-kneipe is merely a sort of club-room, and not a 
" lodge." Furthermore, a corps has no existence outside 
of its own university ; it has no affiliations, no " chap- 
ters." There exists, however, a so-called Cartel-verbindung 
between corps of different universities, so that a member 
of the Heidelberg Vandals, for instance, in coming to 
Gottingen, becomes the Conkneipant without further cere- 
mony of the Gottingen Bremensians, but continues to 
wear his colors as a Vandal. Each corps regulates its 
own affairs ; all general rules are drawn up and promul- 
gated by the Senioren Convent, or heads of the corps of 
All Germany, who meet once a year in solemn conclave. 
There were, and still are, I believe, seven corps at Got- 
tingen : the Bremensians, Saxon-Borussians, West- 
phalians, Hanoverians, Brunswickians, Luneburgs and 
Teutons. These names have lost nearly all their geo- 
graphical signification. Each corps has its set of colors ; 
thus the Saxon-Borussians wore dark blue, white, light 
blue, and the Westphalians, dark green, white, light 
green, etc. 

After the Corps come the Burschenschaften and Verbin- 
dungen. The origin of the Burschenschaften is to me 
obscure ; I believe that they were at one time identical 
with the Landsmafinschaften, started as a political club in 
the last century and broken up by governmental inter- 
ference. The Verbindungen are of comparatively recent 
origin ; they are mere social clubs, each existing by and 



70 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 



for itself, and not subject to rules common to all. More- 
over, many of them are professedly hostile to dueling, 
and aim at its suppression. Such Verbindunge7i at Gbt- 
tingen were the Hercynians and New-Hanoverians, 
irreverently nicknamed the " tea-boys." The corps-stu- 
dents, it is perhaps superfluous to remark, regard them- 
selves as the students by eminence, looking down upon 
the others and lumping them under the convenient desig- 
nation of Wilden, wild-men. The distinction resembles 
that which exists at Yale, for instance, between " society- 
men " and "neutrals." The corps-students at Gottingen 
numbered scarcely more than one hundred and thirty in 
a total of seven hundred ; but being well organized, and 
comprising nearly all the stirring, aggressive elements, 
they shaped things pretty much to suit themselves. It 
was the old story of the advantage of discipline and 
organization over mere numbers. 

Each corps has its own Fecht-boden, or fencing-room, 
where its members meet every day for practice among 
themselves. The dueling comes off on the Mensur, 
which is selected by agreement ; it is generally a room in 
some tavern outside the city, and is changed from time 
to time, to baffle the police. If a Wilder wishes to duel 
with a corps-student, he must fight on the Mensur and 
according to the rules of the S. C. ; he must also furnish 
his own seconds. The corps, I believe, supplies the wea- 
pons. But, as an outsider, I cannot speak on these 
points very confidently. 

To resume the narrative. About a third of a mile 



A UF DER MENSUR. 7 1 

outside the town, on the right hand of the chaussee, 
stands the well known tavern and concert-room Zum 
deutschen Hause. By the side of it is a smaller tavern. 
Here we entered, and, passing through the public rooms 
below, ascended a narrow rickety stairway in the rear to 
the upper story. In the first room that we entered, a 
small one, was a stand holding a barrel of beer, from 
which one or two waiters were busily filling Schoppen for 
the thirsty souls in the room beyond This, the Mensur 
itself, was a room about twenty-five feet by forty, rather 
low-ceilinged, and lighted by two windows at each end. 
The atmosphere was dim and heavy with smoke ; groups 
of students stood around, puffing, drinking, boisterously 
talking. One 'or two were practicing " cuts " in the cor- 
ners of the room, to the imminent peril of the ears and 
nose of any who might happen to stray into their vicin- 
ity. A duel was going on between two F'iichse (Fresh- 
men). The combatants wore caps in addition to the 
general defensive armor, — of which more hereafter, — and 
each had his second by his left side, whose business it 
was to parry the dangerous blows. The two combatants 
did their best, only to be ridiculed for their pains. Like 
all beginners, they tried to make up in rude force what 
they lacked in address. The swords got entangled every 
minute or two, and nearly every blow i€(\. flach, i. e., with 
the flat of the sword instead of with the edge. The 
utmost that the better of the two did was to saw off a 
lock of hair from his antagonist's head and scratch his 
cheek enough to draw blood. The by-standing veterans 



72 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

indulged in various cheering remarks, such as : " Well 
hit," " Try it again," or, when a blow fell flacher than 
usual, " Where did you learn that ? " " Here's a bumper 
to your royal good health." The affair was evidently a 
farce to all but those immediately involved. 

The duel came to an end soon after we entered the 
room. The rule is that the duelists must fight either 
fifteen minutes (stops not included), or until one of them 
is abgefu/irt, literally led away, i. e., receives a wound that 
reaches to the bone or is pronounced dangerous by the 
surgeon in attendance. If no Abfuhr is declared, the 
umpire pronounces the duel over at the end of fifteen 
minutes. The two " foxes," accordingly, fought out their 
time and were released, greatly to their own satisfaction. 
Preparations were then made for the affair of the day, 
the duel between M and Von H . 

Mensur duels, as a matter of course, are fought with 
the Schlager, a long, thin, and narrow sword with a 
basket-hilt. One edge is left perfectly dull ; the other 
is sharpened for about twenty inches from the end, which 
is not a round point but blunt. The guard, or position, 
does not resemble in the least that of the sahreur or the 
small-swordsman ; it is something peculiar to itself. I can 
scarcely describe it better than by asking the reader 
to hold his right arm, curved, above and in front of his 
head, and let his cane hang perfectly loose from his hand. 
It should be observed that the only object of attack and 
defense is the head and face. The chest is protected by 
a thick, long pad of buckskin ; around the neck, to pro- 



A UF DER MENSUR. 73 

tect the jugular vein, the carotid artery and the other 
important bloodvessels, is wrapped a very heavy silk 
cravat, that comes up to the point of the chin. The eyes 
are guarded by massive iron goggles without glasses. 
Attached to the rear of the buckskin pad, at the small 
of the back, is a short tag or loose projecting strip of 
leather; the object of this is to give the unemployed 
hand, during the round, something to hold on by and 
thus keep it out of harm's way. The sword-arm is pro- 
tected by a heavy buckskin glove reaching from the 
shoulder to the sword-hilt. The guard, which would 
be useless for sabre or fleuret fighting, will be found to 
be a perfectly natural one for defending the face and 
head. The cut of the Schlager is not the heavy, down- 
bearing blow of the sabre, still less the thrust of the fleu- 
ret ; it is a short, quick, whipping motion, whereby the 
swordsman, keeping his arm in the same general position, 
lets the sword revolve with the hand on a free wrist, as it 
is called, and tries to cut over or under his adversary's 
guard. This peculiar whipping movement is not to be 
described, and can be acquired only by long and inces- 
sant practice. In the hand of an experienced fencer, the 
Schlager^ although of course inflexible in the line of its 
edge, seems actually to coil over one's guard, like the 
snapper of a whip. 

Bloodshed aside, the general appearance of the duel- 
ists is very comical. The pad and cravat and spectacles 
make them look somewhat like a pair of submarine 

divers in their armor. Then, it is interesting to watch 
7 



74 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

the left hand pulling on the tag in convulsive sympathy 
with the movements of the right hand. Whenever the 
swords become entangled, or a wound or what seems 
to be a wound is given, the umpire cries, Halt ! The 
seconds then separate their principals, and the doctor 
makes his examination. This constitutes a round. As 
the hanging guard is a fatiguing one, and as lowering 
the sword-arm would be tantamount either to a signal 
of defeat or an evidence of cowardice, the principal is 
allowed to rest his arm on the shoulder of his second in 
the intervals between the rounds. I doubt whether the 
civilized world can afford an odder sight than that of a 
student in full panoply pacing up and down the Memiir 
and leaning his sword-arm confidingly on his corps- 
brother's shoulder, while the surgeon gravely inspects 
his adversary's head. 

The duel between M and Von H was to be, 

in technical phrase, ohne ohtie, that is, without caps and 
without seconds. The principals had their seconds, it 
is true, but these did not stand by during the round and 
ward off Tief -quart or other dangerous blows ; they kept 
back, and only advanced to part the principals when the 
umpire cried. Halt. Nor did the principals wear the 
corps-cap; head and face, with the exception of the 
eyes, were entirely exposed. 

Whatever else it may or may not do, the German 
Mensur certainly gives the observer a good field for 

studying diversity of character. M and Von H 

were placed face to face, seven or eight paces apart. 



A UF DRR MENSUR. 75 

Every body became breathless with attention. The 
second of one party cried, Lcgt aus, lay out, i. e., get 
ready, get on guard ; the other responded, Sie liegen 
aus, they are ready. The umpire called out, Los I The 
combatants took each three steps in advance and came 
up to position ; the duel had begun. 

Von H , a swordsman of good standing, very 

popular and very plucky, was tall, slender but vigorous, 
and attractive in his mien and manners ; his face bore 

the marks of one or two previous encounters. M , 

on the other hand, was rather undersized, almost burly 
in appearance, but with keen dark eyes and a resolute, 
one might say an " ugly " set to the mouth. Although 
his face was as smooth and full of color as that of a girl, 
his action and expression made it evident that he was a 
dangerous man. In addition to quickness and coolness, 
he had the great advantage of being left-handed. 

Von H , who had apparently studied his antagon- 
ist's style, was bent upon giving him plenty to do. 
Being taller by several inches, he sought to improve the 
advantage by making a furious attack, striking four or 
five Hochqiiart in rapid succession, in the attempt to 

beat down M 's guard or to reach over it and cut 

the back of his head. But for this M was altogether 

too cool and firm. Parrying each attack with his arm, 
which he kept in perfect position, he merely made an 
occasional upward feint, an easy flirt of the sword, rather 
than a decided cut. It was evident that he acted strictly 
on the defensive, and bided his opportunity. In this 



76 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

way three rounds were fought in about as many minutes. 

Von H 's chin was slightly grazed, M had not 

been touched at all. In the fourth round, Von H — — 
made a more furious onslaught than usual, reaching very 
far over, and it seemed as if he had at last succeeded 

in cutting the back of M 's head. The umpire cried. 

Halt, and M had to submit to the doctor's inspec- 
tion ; he did so with a bad grace, smiling ironically, as 
if to say : What nonsense. The surgeon could not find 
any wound, and round number five was called. As 

M came to position, I noticed that he thrust his 

forward foot a trifle farther out than usual, gave his head 
a slight shake and his lips a slight curl. I felt instinct- 
ively that this time he meant mischief. As usual. Von 

H led off, but this time with a rattling Hochterz that 

almost broke both blades. M parried, and replied 

with a quick, strong upward cut. Von H had barely 

time to recover guard and parry. He did so, however, 
but unfortunately in the movement suffered his wrist to 
drop an inch or two. In a twinkling, apparently as if it 

were the same motion, M 's upward cut was reversed 

to Hochterz (what would have been Hoch-qiiart for one 
right-handed). With a dull gleam and an inexpressibly 
rapid swish, his Schlager swooped upon his antagonist's 
exposed forehead. A subdued hum thrilled through the 
assembly. A stream of bright red blood spirted on the 
floor, and it needed no doctor's examination to pro- 
nounce the duel over. It had lasted five or six minutes, 
and the victor had struck only one real blow. One may 



A UF DER MENSUR. 77 

attend many a duel without witnessing a like display of 
tactics. The successful duellant had simply kept his 
guard and struck in the nick of time. 

The reader is doubtless ready with his comments : 
What a shocking display of brutality, what a senseless 
mutilation of the human countenance ! I agree with 
him fully. In fact, many a German corps-student 
will do the same. Yet it is only fair that we should 
look upon the matter from every point of view, and avoid 
judging it by our own standards exclusively. Were the 
students the only class of duelists in Germany, or in 
Europe, the practice would soon be put down. But such 
is not the case. In England, and in the older States of 
our Union, the appeal to arms as a satisfaction for 
wounded honor has gone out of fashion. Popular opin- 
ion is against it. But in France, Germany, Italy, Russia, 
duels occur continually. I need only cite, among recent 
instances, the deplorable encounter between Armand 
Carrel and Emile de Girardin, the one between the Due 
de Montpensier and Henri de Bourbon, or the one that 
occurred but a few months ago between two Roumanian 
noblemen residing in Paris.* One who reads the Euro- 
pean press regularly will find mention made of a duel 
every month or two. The truth is that public opinion 
on the continent sustains the practice, and, in such 
matters, public opinion is irresistible. German students 
duel for the same reasons that lead German officers, 

* Even as I write, the world of Paris is agog with the duel in which Prince 
Mettemich has figured. 

^7 



\ 



78 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

journalists, noblemen, and others of the genus irritabile 
to resort to arms, namely, because they regard it as the 

\\ only dignified oxid gentlemanly way of resenting an insult. 

< In this respect, they are in accordance with the general 
tone of feeling in the community, they are neither better 
nor worse than the other upper classes. But they are 
to be condemned, even on their own theory, for convert- 
ing what should be the exception into a inodus vivendi, as 
it were, making student-honor a matter of conventional- 
ism and converting a final resort into an every-day 
pastime. They duel so much, and on such frivolous 
pretexts, that the impartial observer must accuse them 
of fighting simply because they like to fight. Further- 

V more, 'by their paddings and goggles (to say nothing of 
caps and seconds), and by their peculiar mode of fight- 
ing, they eliminate the element of danger almost com- 
pletely, and make the Mensur encounter a mere display 

^ of address. The wounds inflicted by the ScJdager are 
rarely serious, being clean cuts with a sharp edge, and 
generally heal in a fortnight. If properly cared for, they 
do not leave a bad scar. Occasionally one hears of a 
grave disfigurement, possibly a fatal termination to a 
ScJdager duel ; but such results come from what might 
be called an accident, as the breaking of a sword-blade. 
In ninety-nine instances out of the hundred, a student- 
duel is like the two that I have described : either a harm- 
less and almost farcical set-to between men who cannot 
do each other much harm, or a scientific trial of skill 
between veterans who know how to give and take. I 



A UF DER MENSUR. 79 

once asked a friend of mine, a corps-student at the time 
and a splendid Schl'dger* what he really thought of the 
Mensur. " O," said he, " it is an abominable piece of 
nonsense {ein grasslicher Unsinn), but at any rate it is 
better than street-fighting." 

It is a notorious fact that nine tenths of the duels are 
fought without any real provocation ; one student hap- 
pens to bump against the other in the street, or one 
chaffs the other a trifle too sharply. The students have 
a code of honor of their own, namely, a list of expres- 
sions which one can not himself use without rendering 
himself liable to a challenge and which one must always 
resent. Prominent among these is the word diwun 
(stupid), especially in the connection : dummer Junge. 
It is a direct provocation to call your colleague a diirnmer 
Junge J it is not, to tell him that he lies ! The German 
word " lie " does not suggest such a degree of moral 
obliquity as does the English. 

The reader must not imagine, however, that 
Mensur duels are the only ones. From time to time 
there is an encounter with sabres or even with pistols. 
These are rare, but they do occur, and are kept very 
secret ; generally they are fought outside the limits of 
the University jurisdiction. They are real duels, the 
. supposed satisfaction for some gross insult. 

The reader will probably wish to learn why it is that 
the university as a rule treats Mensur duels so lightly, 
scarcely interfering to prevent them, and, when the 

♦ He is now professor in a neighboring university. 



8o GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

beadles have made an arrest, punishing the offenders 
with a mere nominal imprisonment of a few days or a 
fortnight. Permit me to meet the interrogatory with the 
following imaginary counter-question from the university 
court. Here are hundreds of young men from various 
quarters of the country, all more or less imbued with the 
notion that it is right and honorable to resent an insult, 
all at that age in life when passion runs highest, sus- 
tained and even urged on by the general opinion of the 
community, that looks upon a Mensur as a venial youth- 
ful escapade, and a Schlotger scar as something to be 
boasted of in after-life. What would you have us do ? 
Suppress the duel and punish rigorously the duelist.'' 
We can not do the one, we dare not do the other. Our 
students will fight, because the quarrel is in them and 
must come out. Our colleagues of the Heidelberg fac- 
ulty tried once, years ago, to put an end to the practice, 
but outside pressure was too strong for them and they were 
forced to abandon the attempt. All that is in our power, 
we do ; we discourage utterly pistol and sabre duels, by 
ferreting out the real offender and punishing him to the 
full extent of our authority ; we leave Mensur duels to 
the general good sense of the students ; if they become 
too numerous, or if they threaten to assume an aggra- 
vated shape, we check them for a while by relegating the 
elements of discord. But there is one thing that we can 
do, and always do ; we prevent bullying. We suffer no 
one to be overridden and dragged into a duel against 
his own judgment, either by threats or by abuse. If a 



A UF DER MENSUR. 8 1 

man chooses to fight, he can take his chance. If he 
does not choose to fight, we protect him. 

These are not idle words. The reader may rest 
assured that there is no more scrupulous defender of 
the inviolability of a man's person and feelings than the 
court of a German university. In 1863, at a time when 
diplomatic relations between Prussia and Hanover were 
rapidly becoming delicate in the extreme, the University 
of Gcittingen did not hesitate to banish for two years the 
nephew of one of the most notorious and influential 
generals in the Prussian service, merely because he 
insulted verbally but grossly a fellow-student in the 
street. I feel, no hesitation in affirming that the student 
who should presume to strike, either with his cane or with 
his hand, another student, and should decline to make 
public apology and amends, if demanded, would be 
cashiered within a week. He would have the pleasure 
of reading his name placarded in big staring letters on 
the Black Board, and knowing that he was excluded 
from every seat of learning between the Rhine and the 
Vistula. American though I am, I feel bound to state 
explicitly that, on this point at least, we have much to 
learn from Germany. Dueling, it must be admitted, is 
an evil. But there are others equally great and much 
meaner. I refer to "hazing," " rushing," " nagging," and 
"smoking-out." These are outrages upon all that makes 
life worth living. . They not only invade the sanctity of a 
private room, but they humiliate the victim at a time 
when the character is forming and impressions are 



82 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

assuming their final set. Having myself escaped all 
these trials of American college life, I can speak my 
mind freely and without resentment. To one who has 
lived under both systems, our own will appear a mixture 
of childishness and tyranny, a system of terrorism ad- 
ministered by beardless youths who were better at home 
conning their geography and grammar. It is not my 
purpose to defend German practices, still less to commit 
the absurdity of arguing for their adoption in America. 
Both countries are in need of reform. But this much 
surely the sober-minded thinker can say : that the Ger- 
man system, rough and brutal though it may be, is 
at least manly. It holds the student to the strictest 
accountability for all that he does and says. He can 
not play the Hector one day, and the meek and lowly 
minded the next. By insulting in any way his fellow, he 
places himself before the inexorable alternative : apolo- 
gize or fight ! If a student wishes to lead a quiet, 
secluded life, devoting himself exclusively to study, he 
can do so with the assurance that his intentions will be 
respected, his person unmolested. He has only to mani- 
fest his disposition, to let the world know that he means 
peace. But then he must carefully observe the golden 
rule, he must not fail to do unto others as he would have 
others do unto him. He must never provoke abuse. If, 
on the other hand, his wish is to fight and row with con- 
genial spirits, it is easily gratified. Time will never hang 
heavy on his hands. He will always find men by the 



A UF DER MENSUR. 83 

score ready to quarrel with him over the color of the 
Prophet's beard and meet him steel to steel. 

The fault of the American system is that, under it, the 
student who is in the least degree odd in appearance or 
manners may be subjected to annoyance and persecution 
from which there is no escape and for which there is no 
redress. The fault of the German is that it tolerates 
bloodshed, and makes student-honor, to a large extent, 
conventional. On the other hand, it confines personal 
altercation to those who choose to indulge in it of their 
own accord. 



CHAPTER V. 
Daylight in German. 

THE fall and winter passed uneventfully. The sea- 
son was a cold one, giving us plenty of skating on 
the Upper Meadows, outside of the Grone Gate. Skat- 
ing and an occasional visit to the theater were my only 
relaxations ; otherwise I kept close to my books and lec- 
tures. Had the theater troupe and stage repertory been 
better, I might have paid perhaps more frequent atten- 
tions to the muse. But it seemed to me that the even- 
ings could be spent more profitably and agreeably in 
talking poor German to my landlady, and listening to her 
capitally told stories of German life. It has often been 
a matter of astonishment to me how much language one 
can learn in conversation with intelligent and cultivated 
women. The solid framework of knowledge one has to 
construct for one's self, slowly and painfully, but ease and 
grace of discourse, the mastery of those charming little 
words and phrases that make conversation a continuous 
flow, rather than a clumsy chain of detached proposi- 
tions, can be obtained only through intercourse with the 
other sex. In this respect, German women are not equal 
to the French ; they have less style, less finish, and also 
less animation. On the other hand, they have more 



DA YLIGHT IN GERMAN. 85 

heartiness, by nature a kinder disposition. They are 
devoted friends, always obliging, thoroughly unselfish, 
and easily pleased. 

Perhaps the reader is familiar with the expression 
attributed to Dr. Johnson on landing at Dieppe : " Good 
Heavens ! Even the little children speak French ! " 
On arriving at Gottingen, I found, in like manner, that 
all the boys and girls spoke German ! What was even 
more surprising and humiliating, they spoke a good deal 
faster and better than I could. Can there be anything 
more absurd than to find yourself, who have obtained 
your legal majority, beaten completely by a child not yet 
in its teens, to see that all your book-learning is as noth- 
ing by the side of prattle imbibed, as it were, with the 
mother's milk, picked up unconsciously and without an 
effort in the nursery-room .? Although not offering my 
experience on this point as anything novel or extraordi- 
nary, I desire to make an application of it that has not 
yet received the attention which it deserves. It is this, 
that whoever seeks to learn a language well and com- 
pletely must, in a measure, learn it even as a little child, 
must approach it in a humble, we might say a reverent 
spirit, and let it work upon him before he attempts to 
work upon it. Language is a mode of expression for the 
widest range of ideas and feelings ; unless we essay it in 
all its stages, from its lispings and stammerings to its 
most exalted utterances, we shall never fully enter into 
its character. Furthermore, the beginner can learn very 
much from children's talk. The more I reflect upon the 



86 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

numbers of those who exert themselves from year to year 
to acquire a practical knowledge of foreign languages, the 
greater is my surprise that no one of our professed teach- 
ers has given to this fact special prominence. It would 
be going out of my way to attempt to give an explanation 
of all the causes. Let me call attention to one or two. 
The besetting sin of the beginner in language is mauvaise 
honte ; he is tongue-tied, helpless, embarrassed in the 
presence of his equals. He is ashamed to speak, for fear 
of making a mistake ; it seems to him at times as though 
everybody were watching him and waiting for a blunder. 
Of course this is a delusion, but, like other unreasonable 
delusions, it cannot be reasoned away. . In speaking with 
children, however, this mauvaise honte vanishes of itself; 
the young man who is ashamed to open his lips before 
other young men, will converse freely with a boy, as if it 
were his own brother ; he loses the morbid dread of being 
watched and corrected, and blunders on the best he can. 
This, it is to be observed, is half the battle in learning to 
talk. But there is another point equally important. 
Children are great tyrants ; they are not exacting in the 
matter of grammar ; they tolerate all sorts of mistakes, 
without even suspecting one of talking queerly, that is, 
as a foreigner ; but, in one respect, they are inexorable. 
They will have easy words and phrases, and they will 
have the right word for the right thing. No amount of 
circumlocution, of general platitudes and second-hand 
knowledge will answer ; one must call a kettle a kettle, a 
saw a saw, or the child will not understand. Experience 



DA YLIGHT IN GERMAN. 87 

will teach us that in conversing with children we must 
always reconstruct our knowledge, so to speak ; must put 
our ideas into the clearest and most compact shape ; 
keep the sharpest watch over nouns, adjectives and verbs, 
and drop all conventionalisms. In listening to children's 
talk, we can almost imagine ourselves " hearing the grass 
grow ; " we surprise the human spirit in its healthful, 
spontaneous evolution. 

It is not in my power to dwell upon this subject. 
I can only assure the reader that, having lived in both 
French and German families, and tried the experiment 
thoroughly, I attribute whatever conversational ability 
I may possess quite as much to the children as to the 
parents. My landlady in Gottingen had but one child 
living with her, a mere girl just in her teens, but very 
affable, intelligent, and devoted to her lessons with an 
assiduity that would put to shame the typical American 
miss who has begun already to dream of balls and val- 
entines. For three years we were the best of friends, 
and the German that I learned from her will stand me in 
good stead for a life-time. 

Yet, notwithstanding the advantages of the home-circle 
that I was enjoying, I determined in early spring to make 
a change of quarters. To come to a German university 
and not live just as a student, seemed like visiting Rome 
without getting a look at the Pope. Besides, I was some- 
what cramped and uncomfortable, the best rooms in the 
house being occupied by the older boarders. I selected, 
therefore, a student-room on the Wende street, the prin- 



GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 



cipal street of the town, and had my books and " traps " 
transferred. It was a pleasant abode. The main room 
had three windows in front, and one on the side; the 
sleeping-room, facing on a side street, had two windows. 
The furniture was altogether new. For all this comfort 
I paid the moderate sum of five and a half louis d'or per 
semester, i. e., from Easter to Michaelmas, or vice versa. 
In university towns, this is the habitual way of renting 
rooms. Reckoning the lojiis d'or at five thalers and a 
half, my rental for six months was a fraction over thirty 
thalers, say twenty-two dollars. I had really more room 
than I needed. 

Meals and fuel were of course extra. I had to make a 
slight outlay for table-furniture, buying some knives and 
forks, plates, cups and saucers, napkins, and table-cloths. 
This was my bachelor outfit. The slight expense was 
more than balanced by the luxurious sense of being my 
own master, of being able to give a bachelor supper 
to my friends, whenever so disposed. I continued to 

take my dinner with Frau H , but breakfast and 

supper were in my own room. Short of being in one's 
own family, I doubt whether there is a more enjoyable 
state than that of living by one's self in hired lodgings in 
Germany. It is possible in New York, to say nothing 
of London and Paris ; but in New York, the expense is 
ruinous, and even in England and France one will 
miss that peculiar institution, the Dienstm'ddchen. The 
German Dienstm'ddchen is no more the domestique of 
France, or the " Bridget " of America, than Gottingen 



DA YLIGHT IN GERMAN. 



is Oxford or Harvard. She is an institution by herself, 
and therefore deserves especial mention. In fact, life in 
Germany would be scarcely what it is without her. If 
you wish an extra supper in the evening, you consult 
your Z)tenstm'ddchen j if you merely wish to send out for 
a glass of beer, you employ her services. She will bring 
home a basketful of books from the university library, 
make your fires, go on all your thousand and one errands, 
and do everything for you but blacken your boots. That 
is the perquisite of the Stiefelfuchs. Her capacity for 
work and her general cheerfulness border on the marvel- 
ous. One such servant girl will wait upon six or seven 
students and do the family-work in addition. She brings 
the dinner for those who take that meal in their rooms ; 
she makes the beds and sweeps the rooms (when they are 
swept) ; in the autumn, she is sent to the family-estate 
outside the city walls to dig potatoes by way of variety. 
Yet she is able and ready to dance every Sunday night 
from seven o'clock to two, and go about her work on 
Monday morning as fresh as a June rose. Her only fault 
is a slight shade of impertinence ; not the surly, mutinous 
impertinence of " Bridget," but the pert forwardness of 
a good-natured, spoiled child. Like all privileged ser- 
vants, she thinks that she knows everything much better 
than her master. 

Students commonly take their dinner at a hotel or 
restaurant, paying a fixed price per month. Some few, 
either on account of ill health or because they wish to 
economize time, dine in their rooms. This is unques- 



90 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

tionably a pernicious habit ; no one can really enjoy the 
principal meal of the day in solitude. But the basket 
used for bringing meals into the house is so practical and 
so peculiar that I cannot refrain from describing it. It 
is round, small in diameter, and very deep ; a wide slit 
runs down one side to the bottom. Into this basket the 
dishes, generally four in number, are dropped one upon 
the other. The bottom of the first dish fits upon and 
into the second, the third upon the second, and so on, 
after the fashion of the rings used in moulding for long 
vertical castings. Each of the dishes has a knob that 
slips down the slit and is used as a handle in pulling the 
dish out. When the dishes are all in place and the 
cover is on, the whole can be easily carried quite a dis- 
tance, by means of an arched handle over the top, with- 
out spilling or cooling the contents. 

The reader may imagine me, then, as lodged in very 
comfortable sunshiny rooms on the principal street in 
town, nearly opposite the church of St. James. This 
venerable edifice, the stones of which have grown gray- 
black with the lapse of centuries, is not beautiful; its 
outlines are too bald, its solitary tower too stiff and 
awkward. Still it is an attractive building; my chief 
pleasure in connection with it was to watch the going and 
coming and listen to the incessant cawing of the rooks 
that had built them nests under the eaves and in the 
chinks of the tower. Every fair day, about sunset, they 
flew around the tower again and again in a flock, evi- 



DA YLIGHT IN GERMAN. 91 

dently settling the affairs of the day and wishing each 
other good night before retiring. 

The first four months passed in my new abode were 
a period of unmixed delight. I was in the spring-time 
of life, unfettered, free to follow the promptings of fancy, 
and, above all, stimulated by the consciousness that day- 
light had at last dawned upon my studies. The patient 
toil of preparation through the fall and winter blossomed 
and put forth leaves, as it were, in company with the 
trees on the old city wall. For six long months I had 
slaved through grammar and translations; about the 
beginning of March, as near as I can remember, I said 
to myself: "Somewhat too much of this." Bidding 
grammars, copy-books and exercises a lasting farewell, I 
read ! I gave myself up without restraint to the fit, let 
the appetite that had been fasting so long gorge itself 
without stint. The preparatory work having trained my 
memory and perceptions, it was an easy thing then to di- 
gest and assimilate whatever I might take up. My read- 
ing was as immethodical as possible ; nothing was too 
easy and simple, nothing too exalted. In the language of 
Yo\ta.\xc,je permettais tons les genres hors le genre ennuyeux. 
The first literary work that I read was the Faust. A 
strange selection, yet perhaps the best. The copy that I 
used is still in my possession, with all the notes and 
explanations inserted in pencil at the time. It surprises 
me to see how few words I was obliged to look up in the 
dictionary. It would be presumptuous to say that I 
understood Faust thoroughly ; to do that, one must be 



92 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

mature in years and make it a subject of special study. 
But so far as sentiment and diction were concerned, I 
understood and enjoyed the poem with an intensity that 
rather unsettled me for the time. It haunted me day 
and night, the rhymes and the play of words rang in my 
ears. I read and re-read, until the lyrical and descrip- 
tive passages were firmly lodged in the memory. Besides 
Faust, I read Egjjwnt, Tasso, in fact nearly all the dramas 
and all the minor poems of Goethe, committing many of 
them to memory. It seemed as though I could never 
weary of Goethe. As to Schiller, I cannot speak with 
like accuracy. I read much, but it did not make such 
an impression upon me as to keep the recollection dis- 
tinct from reading done in subsequent years. My favor- 
ite author after Goethe was Lessing; I read all his 
dramatical works and poetical pieces, and many of his 
essays, but not the Laocoon. I also skimmed through 
the minor poets and romancers, Klopstock, Uhland, Wie- 
land, Heine, and the like. But the book that impressed 
me most strongly, the Faust excepted, was one that I 
almost hesitate to mention. The name will sound so 
unfamiliar to the reader, and the subject so far-fetched 
and unattractive. It was Vilmar's Geschichte der deuts- 
chen Nationalliteratur, a history of the national literature 
of Germany from the earliest times down to and includ- 
ing Goethe and Schiller. The remembrance of the first 
reading is as distinct as though it were but yesterday. I 
began at seven in the evening and did not knock off until 
my eyes gave out at three in the morning. No sensa- 



DA YLIGHT IN GERMAN. 93 

tional romance, I am confident, was ever devoured more 

eagerly. The book came upon me as the revelation of a 
new world. Kriemhild, Hagen, Gudrun, Parzival, Tris- 
tan and Isolt, now familiar apparitions, I then met for 
the first time face to face and recognized in their beauty 
and their grandeur. The entire field of German mediae- 
val poetry, depicted so glowingly by the artist-critic, 
swept before me in a majestic panorama. Subsequently, 
when increased familiarity with the subject had brought 
me to look upon mediaeval German and its literature with 
more critical eyes, I was often at a loss to account for 
the enthusiasm which the first perusal of Vilmar's work 
had called forth. His views seemed exaggerated, his 
judgments too sanguine. It was only in the fall of 1872 
that I obtained the clue to the puzzle, and learned that 
my earliest impressions were after all justified. A pupil 
and warm admirer of Vilmar, Professor Grein of Mar- 
burg, with whom I was then privately reading Anglo- 
Saxon, informed me that Vilmar had written his History 
from a full heart, so to speak. He was invited to deliver 
a special course of lectures on German literature at 
Cassel. Although already very familiar with the ground, 
he went over it anew, going back directly to the authors 
or originals themselves, eschewing intermediate works 
of criticism, and reading in extenso. His tone and his 
views, accordingly, have something about them inde- 
scribably fresh and genial. As Professor Grein observed, 
the composition bears evident tokens of the " powerful 
impression got directly from the sources themselves." 



94 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

It is not surprising, then, that Vihnar should have suc- 
ceeded in portraying so artistically and vividly the 
growth of the German mind. His work contains errors, 
not a few of them grave ones. For minuteness and 
accuracy it is surpassed by the works of Gervinus, Kober- 
stein, Kurz, and others. But taken all in all, as a genial, 
animated and animating, continuous flow of description 
and reflection, it is still unsurpassed. By the side of it, 
the other treatises are as dry as dust. It is a work that 
might be introduced with profit in the most advanced 
German classes of our colleges. 

But interest in a novel subject, and the fascination 
exerted by Vilmar's style, were not the only ties that 
attached me to the History. More than any other work, 
more than Faust itself, it awakened me to the full sense 
of the mastery that I had gained — hitherto uncon- 
sciously — over the German language. Vilmar's style is 
difficult, that is to say, while the range of words is not 
large and the words themselves are graphic and easily 
understood, the sentences are complicated in the extreme. 
It is the German style nar e$oxr)v. I cannot recall 
another author who uses habitually such long sentences, 
who detaches the separable particle from the verb by 
such daring flights of direct and indirect object, adverbs, 
qualifying, explanatory, parenthetical clauses. One who 
can read Vilmar's History rapidly, say eight or ten pages 
an hour, taking in at a glance the grammatical relations 
of all the words in the complete sentence, seizing uner- 
ringly the separable particle two, or four, or even eight 



DA YLIGHT IN GERMAN. 95 

lines below the verb to which it belongs, retaining the 
sense of the whole and its parts while looking out an 
occasional word in the dictionary, not baffled by length 
or variety of expression, but seeing through it as through 
a transparent tissue : one who can do this is absolved 
from his apprenticeship. He is henceforth a master- 
workman ; he has many things still to learn, but he can 
learn them one by one for himself; the drudgery is over. 
It was this sense of mastery, then, that gave me such 
pleasure. I had at last the satisfaction for many an hour 
of dry study. From that time on, grammar and dic- 
tionary were merely books of reference, not daily 
chains.* The work that gave me most trouble to read 
was, strange to say, the one in which the style is the 
simplest, Freytag's Pictures of the German Past. The 
vocabulary is very rich, and the numerous citations from 
old authors, although modernized in spelling, give the 
work an archaic tinge. 

In this way, occupying myself exclusively with the 
master-pieces of German thought, I passed the spring 
and summer. My mode of life was very simple. At the 

* Ap a specimen of Vilmar's style, permit me to cite untranslated the fol- 
lowing passage from the analysis of Gottfried v. Strassburg's Tristan und 
/salt: ''So vvicm er {th.epo&i) bei tier Stelle^wo ererzdhlt^dass endlick dem 
betrogenen Gatten Marke die Aiigen au/gegangen seien, ?<«iffr (Mark, the 
husband) der ungetreuen Isolde k'tin/tig besser zu hutenbeschlossen^ aber ihre 
Schb'iiheit ihn dennoch blind getnacht habe^ und Isolde auch der strenge>t Hut 
zu spotten verstanden habe, undzwar urn so besser.je sirenger die Hut wurde — 
eine Betrachtung EIN iiber die bei der Minne {\o\€) 'libel angewandte Hut^ in 
luelcher er an den spitzigsten Tadel das zarteste Lob der Frauen att/ die 
geschickteste Weise anknup/ty (p. 146, ed. of 1862.) 

The entire passage turns on flight, line 3, and bin, line 8, which, together, 
form the compound verb einjlecltten^ to interweave, insert. 



96 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

beginning of the summer semester I took, pro forma,''' 
a course of lectures by Professor Lotze, on Natur-Philos- 
ophie. This is anything but our natural philosophy ; it is 
rather the philosophy of nature, a general speculative 
discussion of the laws of the material world in their rela- 
tions to the human spirit, something between physics and 
psychology. I feel bound to confess that, although the 
professor was interesting, I cut him rather shabbily. 
Goethe and Lessing were still more interesting. The 
weather being fine, I spent nearly all my afternoons in 
the open air, exploring the vicinity of Gottingen, until 
every village and by-path and Garten became a familiar 
haunt. Usually unaccompanied on these excursions, I 
always made provision for spiritual diversion by having a 
book or two in my pocket to read whenever the inclina- 
tion came over me and a pleasant resting-place offered 
itself. It was not my practice to carry a pocket-diction- 
ary. When an unfamiliar word occurred in reading, I sim- 
ply underscored it, tried to think out its meaning, and then 
consulted the dictionary after returning to my room. It 
has always seemed to me that pocket-dictionaries are a 
hindrance rather than a help. Being necessarily small, 
they are also necessarily incomplete, are not seldom inac- 
curate, and have the provoking trick of omitting the 
precise word or idiom that one wishes to find. Besides, 
it is no loss, but a gain, to carry a word or an idiom for a 
few hours in the mind without knowing its exact mean- 

* Every student is compelled to take at least one course of lectures pei 
semester. 



DA YLIGHT IN GERMAN. 97 

ing. It seems to lodge itself better in the memory, and 
the mind turns it over and over in the effort to find an 
explanation, so that the explanation, when it comes at 
last, takes root in soil well prepared. Whereas words 
looked up as fast as they occur are apt to resemble seed 
scattered by the wayside. So far as my observation 
extends, those who go through life abroad with a dic- 
tionary in one pocket and a phrase-book in the other, are 
invariably slipshod conversationists. 

I trust that the reader will not regard this digression 
upon the subject of German literature as superfluous. 
My personal experience is not offered as a model for 
imitation, but rather as a hint for reflection, and also in 
the hope of aiding in the correction of what seem to me 
certain grave errors in the accepted plan of learning for- 
eign languages. In language more than in any other 
study, the tone-giving element, to borrow a Germanism, 
is quantity. One must read not by tens of pages, but by 
hundreds, must read rapidly, and above all must read 
authors entire. Permit me to cite one or two authorities. 
Matthew Arnold says : " Ask a good Greek scholar in the 
ordinary English acceptation of that term, who at 
the same time knows a modern literature — let us say 
the French literature — well, whether he feels himself 
to have most seized the spirit and power of French liter- 
ature, or of Greek literature. Undoubtedly he has most 
seized the spirit and power of French literature, simply 
because he has read so very much more of it. But if, 
instead of reading work after work of French literature, 
9 



98 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

he had read only a few works or parts of works in it, and 
had given the rest of his time to the sedulous practice of 
French composition and to minutely learning the struc- 
ture and laws of the French language, then he would 
know the French literature much as he knows the Greek ; 
he might write very creditable French verse, but he 
would have seized the power and spirit of the French 
literature not half so much as he has seized them at 
present."* 

The other quotation is this : " During those secluded 
years, before the call to the New York University, he 
(i. e., Professor Tayler Lewis) read the Hebrew Bible 
through annually^ for fourteen years; the Iliad and 
Odyssey, entire, almost as often ; the whole of the Greek 
drama, forty-five extant plays, twice over, and many of 
them oftener; all the dialogues of Plato, some of them 
frequently; nearly all of Aristotle — his Physica, Meta- 
physica, and his more special physical treatises, and also 
his ethical and political writings ; a large part of the 
lesser hexameter poets, such as Apollonius Rhodius 
and Aratus ; also Pindar and the pastoral poets ; all of 
Thucydides ; all of Herodotus ; all of Xenophon ; nearly 
all of Plutarch, Longinus, Lucian, Diodorus Siculus, and 
the Gnomic and Epic poetry ; all . of Virgil, Horace 
and Ovid; and all of Cicero, except his orations." f 

These citations will make my position clear and 
warrant me in asserting that there is only one way 

♦Higher Schools and Universities of Germany. Ed. of 1874, p. 181. 
+ Hart's Manual of American Literature, p. S78. 



DA YLIGHT IN GERMAN. 99 

of learning a language, for literary purposes, and that 
way consists in reading. After the student has mastered 
the forms so that he is no longer under their thraldom, 
he has only to approach the master-minds and listen to 
all that they have to say; he will thus, as Matthew 
Arnold expresses it, seize the power and spirit of the 
literature. 

Our collegiate and school instruction in French and 
German is faulty both in conception and in execution. 
The schools attempt nothing more than a superficial 
glibness of conversation and composition, which is rarely 
acquired and, when acquired, is never retained, and the 
colleges, which should exact a knowledge of French 
and German grammar for admission, make the course in 
modern languages little more than a tedious additional 
drill in paradigms and exercises ; they overlook the real 
object of learning a language, namely the ability to read 
a book fluently and understand it both in itself and in its 
relations to kindred books. As for French literature 
and German literature, as representing the body of 
thought of those nations, the historic growth of the spirit 
of each, they never seem to have occurred to the minds 
of those who frame our college curriculum. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Idlesse. 

'' I ^HE spring and summer of 1862 were spent as I 
-^ have described, pleasantly and profitably. Not 
so the following winter. For want of a better term, I 
have entitled the present chapter as above. It treats of 
the most dreary and discouraging part of my life in 
Germany, a period of many months spent in forced 
inactivity. I shall be as brief as possible. 

The early summer was warm and agreeable. But in 
August the weather changed, and we had a succession 
of cold rain-storms. Not having succeeded in finding a 
traveling companion, I remained in Gottingen through 
the long vacation, and kept up my reading. In the early 
part of September, ill luck came upon me in the shape 
of a violent cold, that seemed to be satisfied with noth- 
ing short of running through the entire system. Every 
organ was affected more or less, the head, eyes, ears, 
stomach. By the end of the month, after suffering in 
every conceivable way and congratulating myself on the 
prospect of recovery, symptoms of rheumatism showed 
themselves. I became lame and unable to walk, and the 
right knee was badly swollen. The disease finally took 



IDLESSE. loi 

the form of water in the knee.* It was an obstinate ^ 
case, not yielding for weeks and months to the most 
persistent treatment. The disease itself did not occa- 
sion much pain, but the cure was extremely disagreeable. 
I was obliged to keep the leg stretched out on the 
sofa, to wear a heavy linen bandage wrapped tightly 
around the knee, and to paint the knee three or four 
times a day with a solution of iodine. The attack kept 
me a prisoner in my room from September until the 
first week in January. This close confinement became 
toward the last very depressing. The bandage was at 
times an almost insupportable burden, I lost my appe- 
tite, sleep came only fitfully and was seldom refreshing. 
So far as study, or even reading was concerned, I may 
admit that I did none. There was no energy, no 
" brains " for anything of a higher order than the aver- 
age Roman or Novelle. The only literary works that I 
remember reading during this period were Schiller's 
short stories in prose and his Thirty Years' War. This 
last was a doleful infliction, it must be confessed, but 
then it tallied with the invalid's mood. 

Fortunately kind friends stood by me patiently. 
Thanks to their unselfish devotion, I succeeded in 
weathering the trial without more serious loss than that 
of time. There were not many Americans in Gottingen 
during the winter, only five besides myself, and four of 
the five were new comers from over the water and con- 

* The foundation for the trouble was probably laid the year before, by 
excessive indulgence in Alpine climbing and other violent exercises. 



GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 



sequently had to look after themselves. Still, they did 
what they could. My German friends also visited me 
regularly. But my chief comforters were John I. Harvey 
(from Virginia), David Swan (from Scotland), and Paul 
Christofle, the son of the founder and at present head of 
the well known house of Christofle & Cie., in Paris. 
Harvey dropped in at my rooms regularly every morning 
and afternoon ; the other two, who were generally busy 
in the laboratory during the day, came in the evening. 
As I had nothing to do but let myself be entertained in 
the best way possible, my room became a sort of head- 
quarters for any one who might have an idle hour, and 
was ready to take a smoke or a hand at ecarte or " sixty- 
six." 

From beginning to end, the winter of 1862-3 '^^s for 
me a strange episode. Thousands of miles from home, 
without a single person who was directly responsible for 
my welfare, in a foreign land, practically helpless, I 
nevertheless succeeded in outliving the trial uninjured. 
Everybody who came in contact Avith me seemed to take 
an interest in me, the owner of the house and the ser- 
vants were obliging and good-natured, and my friends, 
especially the three whom I have mentioned, left literally 
no wish ungratified. Should these lines ever reach them, 
I hope that they will not be displeased at such a public 
acknowledgment. It is the only way that I can find of 
expressing the sense of gratitude still undimmed for 
valuable hours spent and services paid at the altar of 
friendship. 



IDLESSE. 103 

Soon after New Year, the surgeon pronounced me 
cured, and gave me permission to go out to dinner. 
The prospect of escaping from the confinement of four 
walls, even if only for an hour a day, was enchanting; 
but the permission, when I attempted to act upon it, was 
almost a mockery. The long continued bandaging had 
relaxed the muscles so much that I could scarcely stand. 
For the first day or two it seemed as if all my time and 
energy were consumed in limping up and down the two 
flights of stairs between the room and the street. 

Thus the winter passed in slow recuperation, and 
spring came once again. I met it with feelings very dif- 
ferent from those of the year before. Seven months had 
gone for nothing, or almost nothing. I had of course 
learned some additional German, but the gain was slight 
in proportion to the time. My reading had been broken 
up, and the plans of study that I had formed in the 
summer were not even begun. Everything in a univer- 
sity goes by semesters ; to lose half a semester is to 
lose all. Even had my health permitted, I could not 
have begun any course of study after New Year. There 
was nothing left but to wait for the next semester, and in 
the meanwhile recover all the strength possible. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Removal to Berlhi — Umsatteln. 

13 Y the close of the winter semester (the middle of 
^-^ March, 1863), my health and spirits were restored. 
One or two friends kept me company in a visit of a fort- 
night in Berlin. I had seen the capital of Prussia before, 
for a few days in the summer of 1862, while making a 
sort of flying trip through a part of North Germany. 
But it had been then the saisou ?norte, and the city pre- 
sented anything but an inviting aspect. It was hot, 
deserted, and dusty as only Berlin in July can be. 
During the present visit, on the contrary, the city was all 
life and bustle. For three or four days there was inces- 
sant parading and flying of flags. It was the occasion 
of the dedication of Bliicher's monument and the com- 
memoration of Prussia's uprising fifty years before, in 
1813, against the first Napoleon. The display of troops, 
especially of cavalry, was very handsome, but the most 
interesting event in the ceremonies was the parade of the 
veterans of '13. The survivors of the German War of 
Independence, wearers of the Iron Cross, had been 
invited to Berlin at the express request of the King, and 
many thousands had responded to the call. Every 
veteran had been declared by special orders to rank as 



REMOVAL TO BERLIN— UMSATTELN. 105 

officer for the while and to be entitled to an officer's 
salute. The sentries on guard at the gates and other 
prominent points in the city had consequently little rest ; 
it was one incessant presenting arms. In the grand 
parade imter den Linden., the veterans marched in a body, 
by companies, in between the dismounted Gardes du 
Corps., and, as well as I can remember, the Garde-Fusi- 
liere. It was an impressive sight, to contrast the feeble, 
tottering gait, the old, battered and outlandish looking 
uniforms, the broken ranks of the men of 1813 with the 
solid tread and massive forms of the Body-Guard, or the 
quick, lithe swing of the Fusiliers. On that occasion 
and during my subsequent stay in Berlin, I received an 
impression of Prussia's military power that later events 
have only confirmed. Even the best troops of France, 
the Paris garrison, which I had seen some time before, 
were far from being the powerful, well disciplined men 
of the Prussian Guard. Any one who visited Berlin in 
1863 and 1864, at the inauguration of the Army Reform, 
could not fail to be struck as I was with the energy, I 
might say the agony of preparation. Yet no one could 
have predicted what it meant or what it was to accom- 
plish only three years later. The air was full of military 
bustle, and the city resembled a huge camp even more 
than it does now. 

For various reasons I decided to remove to Berlin for 
the coming summer-semester. As the reader can readily 
understand, Gottingen, once pleasant and inviting, had 
become associated with disagreeable remembrances of 



io6 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

illness and confinement. A change of air might do my 
health good ; besides, being about to alter my plan 
of studies, or rather to adopt a plan where none had 
previously existed, I deemed it only proper to start de 
novo, by changing as well my place of residence. 

After some hesitation, I had resolved to study law with 
a view of obtaining, if possible, the degree of doctor. 
Three semesters had already gone, one in learning the 
language, one in studying its literature, the third in 
enforced idleness. It was now time to settle upon 
something definite in the way of study. A German 
university, I had discovered, did not pretend to give 
a so called general education. There were lectures on 
every conceivable subject, on theology, medicine, the 
natural sciences, philology, history, but there was no gen- 
eral curriculum ; the university evidently expected each 
student to take up one particular line of study and follow 
it to the end. I selected the law, as being the one most 
suited to my taste and disposition. 

I obtained from the University-secretary the necessary 
Abgangszeugniss (honorable dismissal), and removed to 
Berlin about the middle of April. The ceremony of 
re-matriculation was very simple. Coming as a regular 
student from another German university, I had only to 
deposit the Abgangszeugniss with the Berlin secretary, pay 
a small fee, and give the customary pledge, the hand- 
shake, to the Rector. I then matriculated in the legal 
faculty. This transferring one's self from one faculty to 
another is called expressively by the students Umsatteln^ 



REMOVAL TO BERLIN— UMSATTELN. 107 

changing saddles. One can meet students who have 
performed the operation three or four times; faiUng in 
every attempt at a degree, they are content to drift along 
from semester to semester and bear the sarcastic title of 
bemooste Hdupter, moss-grown heads. 

The Berlin university at that time was in its glory. 
The medical faculty was uncommonly strong. In theol- 
ogy there were such men as Dorner, Hengstenberg, 
Niedner, and Twesten, in philosophy Trendelenburg, 
Helfferich, Michelet, in the natural sciences Dove, Rose, 
Braun, in political economy Helwing and Hanssen, in 
history Droysen, Ranke, Jaffe, Kopke, Kiepert, in phil- 
ology Steinthal, Bopp, Bockh, Bekker, Haupt, Weber, 
Many of these illustrious men have been called to their 
rest ; their places have been taken, we can scarcely say 
filled, by their successors. In law there were Bruns, 
Gneist, Holtzendorff", Rudorff, Richter, Beseler, Homeyer, 
Heflfter, and many others ; I have named only the most 
illustrious. Gneist is the well known politician and lead- 
ing debater in the Prussian Parliament and the Imperial 
Diet. Holtzendorff is now professor in Munich ; Rudorff, 
and, I believe, Homeyer and Richter are deceased. The 
brightest stars of the Berlin legal faculty — Savigny and 
Puchta — had already set; in fact, as I afterward dis- 
covered, I might have done better for the first semester 
or two by going to Heidelberg, where Vangerow was then 
in his prime. Yet the loss was not great. In fact I may 
say, once for all, that a student cannot go very far out 
of his way in selecting any one of the leading univer 



Io8 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

sities. Two of the most delightful and most profitable 
months of my life were once passed in even a very small 
university, the name and fame of which have scarcely 
reached America. I mean Marburg, about half way 
between Frankfort and Cassel. The number of students, 
all told, did not exceed four hundred, and the profes- 
sors were correspondingly few. Yet I was surprised at 
the comparatively large number of eminent men and the 
general breadth of culture. The reader may be assured 
that the smaller universities, such as Marburg, Rostock, 
Greifswald, Tiibingen, differ from the larger ones in 
extent, in quantity, rather than in quality. Unless the 
student be engaged in the pursuit of some very limited 
specialty, he can do well almost anywhere. 

To decide upon the study of the law is one thing; to 
carry out the decision is another. By consulting the list 
— still in my possession — of Berlin lectures for the sum- 
mer of 1863, I find that there were announced no less 
than 59 courses of lectures on legal topics, covering 183 
hours per week! That the reader, if of a legal turn 
of mind, may form some idea of what a legal faculty in 
Germany is and what it accomplishes, I give the list entire : 

Encyclopcedy and Methodology of the Science of Law, by 
Professors Heydemann and Holtzendorff and Dr. Schmidt. 

JVaturrecht, or Philosophy of Law, by Professor Heyde- 
mann. 

Institutes, by Professors Bruns and Gneist. 

History a?id Archceology of the Roman Law, the same. 

History of Civil Procedure among the Pomans, the same. 



REMOVAL TO BERLIN— UMSATTELN. 109 

Institutes^ by Drs. Rivier and Degenkolb. 

Select Cases in Roman Law, explained by Dr. Degen- 
kolb. 

Pandects, by Professor Rudorff. 

Erbrecht (Doctrine of Inheritance), by Dr. Baron. 

Pandects and Erbrecht, by Dr. Witte. 

Select Passages from the Pandects, explained by Profes- 
sor Rudorff and Dr. Witte. 

De Sohitionibus (D. xlvi, 3), explained by Dr. Schmidt. 

Practical Exercises in Po?nan Law (a sort of Moot 
Court), by Dr. Baron. 

Ecclesiastical Law, Catholic and Protestant, by Professor 
Richter and Drs. Friedberg and Hinschius. 

La7v of Matrimony, by Dr. Friedberg. 

Practical Exercises in Ecclesiastical Law, by Professor 
Richter and Drs. Friedberg and Hinschius. 

History of German Constitutional Law, by Professors 
Beseler and Daniels and Dr. Kiihns. 

History of the Decline of the Roman-German E7npire, by 
Professor Lancizolle. 

German Common Law, by Professor Homeyer. 

Law of Promissory Notes, by Dr. Kiihns. 

Practical Exercises in German Law, by Professor Beseler. 

Public and Private Rights of Germati Sovereigns, by 
Professors Beseler and Holtzendorff. 

German Constitutional La7v, by Professor Daniels. 

Church and State, by Dr. Friedberg. 

Practical Exercises in State Law, by Professor Holt- 
zendorff. 
10 



GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 



International Law, by Professors Heffter and Holt- 
zendorff. 

Civil Procedure, according to the Cofnnion Law of Ger- 
7nany and the Prussian Code, by Professors Heffter and 
Bruns. 

The same, including also the Code Napoleon (for the 
Rhine provinces), by Dr, Hinschius. 

Practical Exercises in Procedure, by Dr. Hinschius. 

Criminal Law, by Professors Gneist and Berner. 

Criminal Procedure, by Professors Heffter, Gneist and 
Berner. 

Practical Exercises in Criminal Law, by Professor 
Berner. 

The Death-Penalty, by Professor Holtzendorfif. 

Penitentiary System, the same. 

Prussiafi Code, by Professors Daniels and Heydemann. 

Special Questiofis under the Prussian Code, by Professor 
Heydemann. 

Doctrine of Inheritance in Prussia, by Dr. Bornemann. 

History of the Code Napoleon, by Dr. Rivier. 

Franco-Rhenish Rights of Real Property between Hus- 
band and Wife, by Professor Daniels. 

English Constitutional History, by Professor Gneist. 

The total number of professors and doctors {Privat- 
docenten) on the list is twenty-one. 

A few qualifying and explanatory remarks will not be 
superfluous. In the first place, not all the lectures 
announced, especially at a university like Berlin, are 
actually read. The professor, or Privat-docent, upon 



REMOVAL TO BERLIN— UMSATTELN. ill 

whom has been conferred the venias docendi^ the privilege 
of lecturing, is held to announce at least one publice each 
semester. But if auditors fail to present themselves in 
sufficient numbers, as not infrequently happens, the 
course is not delivered, the lecturer is exonerated. This 
may seem an odd procedure, but the explanation is not 
remote. A German university faculty consists of profes- 
sors (either regular or extraordinary), and Frivat-docenten, 
who are nothing more than candidates for professorships. 
The university looks to its professors for bearing the 
burden of instruction ; the Frivat-docenten keep the pro- 
fessors up to the mark by competing with them. A 
Frivat-docent is free to lecture on any topic connected 
with his department, even although a course of lectures 
on that same topic may have been announced by a pro- 
fessor. The reader will observe that the above list con- 
tains several instances of such direct competition. But 
ordinarily the Frivat-docent prefers to compete indirectly, 
as it were, by reading on some special topic that is not 
taken up by any of the professors. These special-topic 
lectures are the germs of future essays and monographs ; 
after the Frivat-docent has worked his lectures into the 
proper shape by repeated readings, he publishes them in 
book-form with a view to wider reputation and a "call." 
But if the topic is too remote, too special, the lecturer 
will not find hearers. In fact, a professor, or even a 
Frivat-docent, whose 'reputation is already established, and 
whose time is occupied with privatim lectures, will pur- 
posely select a very special topic, so as not to attract hear- 



GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 



ers and yet comply with the regulations.* On general 
principles, then, I should say that twenty per cent of the 
lectures announced in the above list were not read. On 
the other hand, the reader should bear in mind that it 
was the summer semester, which is always and everywhere 
" lighter " than the winter. I am inclined to believe that 
we should get the actual amount of winter work by 
restoring the twenty per cent. 

The study of law in Germany is treated seriously. 
No one is admitted to the bar or to the bench who has 
not been through the full university course. This of 
itself presupposes the gymnasial course. The conse- 
quence is that every practitioner and every judge down 
to the humblest justice of the peace has had a thorough 
classical and legal education. Can we wonder, then, at 
the pride with which Germany points to her judicial 
system, and the scarcely concealed disdain with which 
she looks down upon the uncertainty and circumlocution 
of the English and the American 1 It is not my purpose 
to draw invidious comparisons. It must be admitted 
that our best judges and our best lawyers will compare 
favorably with those of any land. But the world is not 
made up of best men. Allowances are to be made for 
respectable mediocrity. Here it is that the superiority of 
the German system, as a system, over our want of system 
becomes manifest. That system is briefly as follows. A 
young German wishing to fit himself for the profession. 

* The ttxmsj>ublice,priz'ati>?i and /riziattsstme have been explained in Chap 
ter III. 



REMO VAL TO BERLIN— UMSA TTELN. 1 1 3 

must first acquire the broad general culture of the gymna- 
sium. In the next place, he must attend the university at 
least three full years, six half-years, and hear certain pre- 
scribed lectures, say eighteen or twenty in all. He need 
not hear them in any prescribed order, but he must hear 
them at some time. He need not pass the university 
examination, but he must pass the Staats-examen, which 
is a serious matter. This state-examination is conducted 
after a peculiarly German fashion. The candidate pre- 
sents himself to the Court of Appeals of the state or 
province, bringing with him his gymnasial and university 
certificates. The court assigns to him two schriftliche 
Arbeiten, that is, two cases which have actually come up 
on appeal, and upon which he must give a reference. 
He gets facsimiles of all the papers in each case, from 
the original summons down to the final appeal in error, 
and also all the evidence. In his reference he must 
review every point taken on both sides, whether of law or 
of fact, whether controverted or not. In short, he must 
subject each case to an exhaustive theoretical analysis, 
and submit his reports in writing. This is a labor of 
several months. After the schriftliche Arbciten have been 
read and approved by the Court, the candidate is ad- 
mitted to an oral examination, which lasts from two to 
three hours. This second ordeal over, he becomes an 
Auditor. That is to say, he is assigned to some one of 
the higher courts {Obergerichte) as a compulsory listener 
to all the proceedings for two years. At the end of the 

two years, he has his choice either to pass his second 
*I0 



114 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

examination then and be admitted to practice, o" to wait 
two years longer as Assessor, that is, as one who sits on 
the bench with the judges but has no vote, and pass a 
final examination as a candidate for judicial appointment. 
A German state, it is evident, does not regard either 
the practice or the administration of the law as some- 
thing to be "picked up." While it is perfectly true that 
no amount of teaching and examining will make a lawyer 
of a man whom nature intended for something else, yet 
it can scarcely be doubted that the German system 
works admirably in suppressing shysters, pettifogers, and 
low-lived individuals of all sorts. One can not take 
the first step toward entering the profession without 
having acquired some substantial knowledge, some ele- 
ments of culture and breeding. The law itself in Ger- 
many has its defects, obvious and grave ones ; but these 
spring from the political and social organization of the 
country, and are not due especially to the bench or the 
bar. The whole tendency of the German system is to 
develop a body of enlightened, upright jurists, and to 
make the course of justice prompt and inexpensive. 
The judges, holding their office by royal appointment 
and utterly indifferent to so called public opinion, watch 
the lawyers very sharply and compel them to expedite 
matters. Besides, they regard themselves more as equi- 
table umpires than as judges in our sense. They try as 
much as possible to bring about compromises and go far 
more than our judges into the real merits of the case. 
A judge, according to the English or American system, 



REMO VAL TO BERLIN— UMSA TTELN. 1 1 5 

contents himself with passing his opinion on points that 
have been expressly raised; in Germany he will often 
take cognizance of points that have not been raised. In 
other words, he regards the equitable rights of the client 
as the main thing, and is not disposed to let them be 
sacrificed through the laches or ignorance of the at- 
torney.* 

Having thus given a brief outline of the way in 
which law is studied in Germany, I must say a few words 
about the substance of the instruction, reserving a fuller 
discussion of it for a subsequent chapter. The law of 
Germany has a threefold origin : it is either Roman, or 
German, or the product of recent legislation. By Roman 
law is meant that set of rules and principles which is 
contained in the Corpus juris civilis, the codification 
made at Constantinople in the sixth century by order 
of the emperor Justinian. To explain how the corpus 
Juris came to be adopted in Germany would lead me too 
far out of my way. The adoption grew out of the inti- 
mate political relations existing between Germany and 
Italy, where the old Roman Law, as Savigny has shown, 
had never gone out of use. It was begun under the 
Hohenstaufen or Swabian dynasty, but proceeded very 
slowly, and was not thoroughly completed even at the 
advent of the Reformation. Its career was a prolonged 
struggle between the " illiterate " law of the folk and the 
subtleties of the clerks and doctors at the seats of learn- 



* It should be borne in mind that, in civil suits, the judges exercise the func- 
tions of the jury. 



Ii6 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 



ing. A somewhat similar phenomenon, but attended 
with very different results, may be observed in the course 
of English Common Law. The Canonists and Civilians 
of Oxford tried to introduce the corpus Juris into Eng- 
land, and came nearer to success than is commonly 
known. In Germany, the passages of the corpus Juris 
not annotated by the Glossators of the Italian school 
are not regarded as received. But these are few in 
number. Practically, the corpus Juris may be said to 
have been adopted entire by the common consent and 
common practice of the German mediaeval courts, so 
that the presumption is in its favor. Whoever attempts 
to controvert the applicability of any one annotated 
passage must show either that it has been specifically 
rejected or that it has been altered or abrogated. Even 
in countries that have a modern code of civil law, a 
thorough knowledge of the Roman law is regarded as 
indispensable, inasmuch as that law is still applicable in 
cases not provided for by the code.* The German law, 
i. e., the law of German origin, has chiefly to do with 
marital and domestic relations, and the rights and obli- 
gations of real property, more exactly, entailed and peas- 
ant estates. But all general ideas on legal topics, the 
entire legal nomenclature, the theory of contracts, pay- 
ment, time, conditions, everything in short that is not 
limited or local is derived from the Roman la,w. A 
complete and accurate understanding of the principles 

* The older parts of Prussia, e. g., are administered according to the code 
introduced in the last century ; the Rhiae provinces have the Code Napoleon. 



REMOVAL TO BERLIN— UMSATTELN. 117 

embodied in the corpus juris is therefore justly considered 
as the basis of the lawyer's education. The Canon Law, 
i. e., the principles and rulings embodied in the corpus 
juris canonici, or body of mediaeval Roman Catholic law, 
has not been adopted to the same extent as the corpus 
juris civilis. Although the university title of LL. D. is 
doctor juris utrinsque {^sc. tarn romani quam canonici), 
the Canon Law as such is no longer taught in Ger- 
many. The corpus juris canonici embodies the rules 
that governed the mediaeval ecclesiastical courts during 
their existence. As those courts had cognizance of 
everything relating to the church and church property, 
to marriage and divorce, crimes committed by or against 
the clergy, the sanctity of the oath, etc., their jurisdic- 
tion covered many cases that modern usage has vindi- 
cated for the secular courts exclusively. The terms 
Canon Law and Modern Ecclesiastical Law, therefore, 
do not coincide ; the former is the law, whether spiritual 
or secular in its nature, administered by the old spiritual 
courts; the latter is the law now applicable to spiritual 
matters exclusively, whether that law be derived from 
the corpus juris canonici or from modern statutes and 
concordates, whether it be Roman Catholic or Protes- 
tant law. The universities of Germany teach at the 
present time only Ecclesiastical Law. The Canon Law 
made its influence upon Roman and German law felt 
chiefly in practice and procedure, and most especially in 
the theory of evidence. All these matters, however. 



Il8 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

have been thoroughly revised and put upon a new basis 
by the modern codes of procedure. 

As regards the Roman law more particularly, the 
course of instruction embraces ordinarily four sets of 
lectures, which I give by their German names : Institu- 
tionen, Rechtsgeschichte, Pandecten, Erbrecht. The Insti- 
tutionen are a condensed exposition of the outlines of the 
Roman law. The order followed is usually that of the 
Institutes of Justinian, and the object of the course is, 
not the exhaustive statement of all the principles in all 
their details, but rather the historic development of the 
leading principles, from the earliest times of the Republic, 
through the Empire, to the age of Justinian. In other 
words, the organic growth of the Roman law during 
seven or eight centuries forms the substance of the 
course called Institutionen. The Rechtsgeschichte, or Aeus- 
sere Rechtsgeschichte, as it is more exactly called, is a 
history of Roman legislation rather than of Roman law. 
It treats of the various phases of the Roman constitution, 
the growth of the plebs, the power of the Senate, the 
scope of the senatus considfa, the functions of the prcetor 
and the prsetorian edict, the rescripts and decrees of the 
emperors, the responsa prudentiit)n, the history of Jus- 
tinian's codification. The Rechtsgeschichte., then, aims at 
acquainting the student with the various agents and 
means at work in producing the body of the law. The 
Pandecten are in one sense merely the Institutionen ex- 
panded ; in another sense, they are quite different. The 
professor who lectures on the Pandects, taking for 



REMO VAL TO BERLIN— UMSA TTELN. 1 1 9 

granted that his hearers are already familiar with the 
Institutionen and Rechtsgeschichte^ develops the Roman 
law as a matter of scientific theory. He does not follow 
the order adopted by Justinian in his Liber Digestorum. 
He seeks to define law in general, to define persons, 
things, the rights of persons, family relations, the rights 
of things, modes of acquiring and losing property, modes 
of entering into, suspending, and annulling contracts, 
and the like, fortifying each position as he goes by cita- 
tions from the corpus juris. The treatment of Erbrecht 
(the doctrine of inheritance) as a separate course is 
purely arbitrary ; it belongs rightfully to the Fandecten. 
But inasmuch as it is the most complicated and difficult 
part of the whole, it is more conveniently treated by 
itself. Vangerow, however, read it in his course on the 
Pandects. 

I cannot revert to my semester in Berlin with much 
satisfaction. The fault was not with the university or the 
professors, but lay in myself. I committed the mistake 
of attempting to begin a new study in a large city. One 
who has advanced beyond the rudiments and has a clear 
idea of what he really needs and what he can dis- 
pense with, will derive benefit from the concourse of 
intellect and character in a capital like Berlin. But the 
beginner, I am persuaded, cannot do better than by 
remaining in a small town for a term or two at least. He 
loses less time in finding out things, in making acquaint- 
ances among those who are pursuing the same study, and 
in catching the spirit of that study. 



GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 



After pondering over the distracting list of lectures 
given above, and getting the advice of one or two ac- 
quaintances to whom I had letters of introduction, I 
made the following selection of lectures : Ifistitutio/ien 
and Rechtsgeschichte, by Professor Gneist, and Encyclopcedie 
und Methodologie der Rechfsiuisseiischaft, by Professor 
Holtzendorff. As the reader will readily understand, the 
lectures were " all Greek " to me. The German was not 
difficult, and both lecturers spoke slowly and clearly 
enough to let me take full notes. But the subject itself 
was a strange world of terms and ideas. I forced myself 
to write down paragraph after paragraph without being 
able to see into the connection or practical bearings of 
the whole. Fortunately I caught up a hint thrown out 
by Professor Gneist in one of his lectures, and purchased 
a copy of Mommsen's Roman History. Here at least 
was something that I could understand. Although my 
recollections of early Roman history, the fabulous 
dynasty of kings, the law of the Twelve Tables, the cen- 
turial constitutions and the like were as shadowy and 
imperfect as those of the average American graduate, 
still it was scarcely possible not to learn much from a 
master like Mommsen. I read through the two large 
volumes of the original with great interest and care. 
Then it was that something like light began to shine 
upon me, that I caught something like an insight into the 
growth of that wonderful organism called the Roman 
Constitution and the Roman State. Using Mommsen as 
a running commentary, I succeeded in understanding 



REMO VAL TO BERLIN— UMSA TTELN. 1 2 1 

my lectures after a fashion. I purchased also Gneist's 
edition of the Institutes of Gains and Justinian, but could 
make little out of the book. The Latin was easy enough, 
but I had no appreciation of the technical terms and no 
friend to whom to go for enlightenment. 

The term was drawing to its close. I was threatened 
with a return of my ailment of the previous winter, and 
was generally discouraged. In view of the many old 
friends still left in Gottingen, I thought it best to spend 
at least the long vacation there and obtain advice for the 
future. I thereupon left Berlin before the end of the 
semester. This was the turning point in my university 
course. 

II 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Wiesbaden — T/ie Institutes. 

By the advice of the physician who had attended me 
during the winter, I was induced to try the baths at Wies- 
baden. The cHmate, the waters, the easy, quiet Ufe at 
this celebrated watering-place, wrought in three weeks a 
perfect cure. Were the present a book on German life 
in general, I should take the liberty of describing fully 
the baths of Wiesbaden ; for they deserve their reputation 
as the Mecca of rheumatic pilgrims, and the town and 
neighborhood are, upon the whole, the most agreeable of 
German Qirorte. But I do not consider myself author- 
ized to transgress the strict limits of the subject, which is 
the description of university life. 

After a brief but most delightful trip down the Rhine 
to Cologne and back, and a run over to Heidelberg and 
Munich, I returned to Gbttingen about the end of August. 
There were six weeks left in which to make ready for the 
coming winter semester. But to what should I turn my 
attention, and how should I make the most of the time 7 
While in this quandary, good fortune led me to make the 
acquaintance of a man who was to become my steadfast 
friend and ready counselor for the next eighteen months. 
To him more than to any one else am I indebted for sue- 



WIESBADEN— THE INSTITUTES. 123 

cess at last. One afternoon, at a garden-concert, I was 
presented to Dr. Maxen, Privat-docent in the legal faculty, 
a stout, bluff, but genial and intelligent man in the thirties. 
Our conversation soon shook off all idle formality. 
Emboldened by the signs of friendly interest on his part, 
I told him my story ; how I had made an attempt in Ber- 
lin and failed ; how much, or rather how little, I had 
done ; what a maze of doubt and ignorance I was in, 
even as to the best books to read. At all of which he 
laughed good-naturedly. " Well, said he, I do not think 
that you have done much worse than other students in 
their first semester. Rome, you know, was not built in a 
day. What you need is to read certain books well, and 
especially to go at the Quellen!^ Let me draw up a 
scheme of work for you. In the first place, read through 
MarezoU's Institiitionen. The book is not worth much, 
but it will familiarize you with terms and definitions, and 
the general groundplan of the law. Then, after reading 
Marezoll, take up Puchta's three volumes of Institiitionen. 
This will give you everything you want to know in a 
clear, logical, thoroughly scientific shape. But, above all 
else, you must read the Institutes of Gains and Justinian 
in the original. This study of modern text-books is all 
very well, but it cannot absolve you from the knowledge 
of the Quellen." I replied that I had Gneist's edition of 
the Institutes already in my possession, and had tried to 
read it, but without success. " Of course you can't 

* The German word Queih-n is the technical term to denote the primary 
sources of information on any topic, the originals. 



124 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

understand it alone. You must have Heumann's Hand- 
lexicon to the Corpus juris ^ and you must read in company 
with some advanced student who can explain things to 
you step by step. Call at my room to-morrow or the 
day after, and by that time perhaps I shall have some one 
for you." I felt that a load had been rolled off my mind. 
These words of sympathy and advice, few, but to the 
point, had at least pointed out to me the way of knowl- 
edge. Henceforth it rested only with myself to follow 
up the clew. 

I have dwelt at length upon this incident, because it 
will reveal in the brightest light the part played in a Ger- 
man university by the Privat-docent. The professors are, 
of course, very learned men, but they are not always 
amiable, at least not always communicative. Standing 
on the isolated pinnacles of science, they are rather cut 
off from the world below, and the student feels reluctant 
to approach them. But the Privat-docent^ still a young 
man in the prime of physical life, fast growing in great- 
ness, but not so far beyond the recollection of his own 
student days as to be unable to enter fully into the trials 
of his younger brethren beneath him, is the Vermitiler, 
the mediator, in the university organism. With one hand 
he urges on the professor to renewed research, with the 
other he raises up and cheers the student. A university 
without Privat-docentcn would be like a regiment without 
corporals, a ship without a boatswain ; with them, it is 
the most powerful and yet the most flexible organization 
for spiritual purposes in the world. The student who 



WIESBADEN— THE INSTITUTES. 125 

knows one or more Privat-docenten can post himself 
readily on the literature of every topic as fast as it may 
come up, can get the latest ideas, pick up any amount of 
odds and ends of information such as books never give, 
and always be sure of friendly advice. The relation 
between Privat-docent and student is purely one of friend- 
ship, characterized on one part by elder-brotherly inter- 
est, on the other by respect unrestrained by ceremonial 
awe. 

Within twenty-four hours all the books mentioned by 
Dr. Maxen were in my possession. A brief examination 
of MarezoU's Institutionen showed me that the Dr.'s 
estimate of the book had not been too unfavorable. 
But Puchta's work was something altogether different. 
Although entitled Institutioneti^ it was really a Pandec- 
ten treatise, but with a large infusion of the historical 
element. It gave me precisely the help that I had long 
sought after, a clear, concise exposition of legal ideas and 
doctrines, and a pretty complete genesis, so to speak, of 
the body of Roman law. The first volume is a discussion 
of Roman constitutional history and Rechtsgeschichte. 
The third volume, unfortunately, was left unfinished in 
consequence of the author's death, the last half being 
edited by Professor Rudorff from posthumous notes. 
For six weeks Puchta was scarcely out of my hand. I 
not only read through the entire three volumes (nearly 
2,000 pages), but committed many of the definitions and 
distinctions to memory, and reviewed incessantly. In 
this way I obtained a tolerably clear idea of what law 

V T T 



126 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

in general is, the difference between statute law and com- 
mon law, the theory of suspending, abrogating, and retro- 
active conditions, the distinction between a condition 
and a dies ad quern or a quo, the Roman notions as to 
natural persons and juristic persons, as to hereditas, patria 
potestas, in tnanu, and the like, the more common kinds 
of contracts and of real property. Puchta's work is an 
eminently useful one for the beginner. It gives a good 
deal of law, but gives it in such a logical shape and in 
such a luminous style that it captivates the reader. It is 
much to be regretted that there is no similar work 
in English for the study of our English common law, in 
place of the antiquated method and jejune, eighteenth- 
century philosophy called Blackstone's Commentaries. 
If the reader can imagine Sharswood's Blackstone, Par- 
sons on Contracts, Washburne on Real Property, and 
Willard's Equity condensed into three volumes, infused 
with the spirit of modern philosophic inquiry and couched 
in language as fresh and limpid throughout as that of 
Chancellor Kent, he will form some idea of Puchta as a 
jurist. With this exception, that no English or American 
writer goes after the fashion of the Germans into the 
history of the law. There are no such works in English 
as Savigny's History of Roinan Law in the Middle Ages, 
Keller's History of Roman Procedure by FormulcB, 
Rudorff's RechtsgescJiichtc, and a dozen others that I 
might mention, where advantage is taken of all the results 
of modern philology and modern historic inquiry. In 
England and in America, law is regarded as a practice, 



WIESBADEN— THE INSTITUTES. 127 

a mode of earning one's livelihood, a sort of blind swear- 
ing in verba magistrorum. In Germany, it is treated as an 
historic science, in fact, as the twin brother of history. 
Nearly every German jurist is somewhat of an historian, 
every historian is a jurist. Indeed, the student in history 
cannot obtain his Ph. D. without passing an examination 
in the rudiments of Roman and German law. We won- 
der at the firm grasp, the unerring insight of such men as 
Niebuhr and Mommsen, but we overlook the circum- 
stance that they were jurists as well as historians. 
Moiimisen in particular was for many years full professor 
in law. Germany has been for half a century under the 
influence of the so called "historic school," that is to 
say, a set of principles which have been advocated 
by such men as Thibaut, Savigny, Puchta, Goeschen, 
Vangerow, and which may be reduced to one funda- 
mental idea : that law is a growth and not a product, and 
that it can be neither comprehended, amended, expanded, 
nor expounded properly without a full and scientific 
study of it from its beginnings. 

Puchta was to me at that time a sort of condensed stu- 
dent-library, it contained nearly everything that I needed 
for preliminary instruction. But Puchta did not make 
me overlook the Quellen upon which my friend had 
laid such stress. Thanks to Dr. Maxen's co-operation, I 
was put in the way of becoming one of a trio to read the 
Institutes of Gaius. Fifty years before, the thing would 
have been impossible, for the work was reckoned among 
the lost treasures of antiquity, like the Comedies of 



128 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

Menander. To explain this point fully, I must go into 
details which, I trust, will not prove uninteresting. The 
codification of Justinian was made in the early part of 
the sixth century. The Roman law had undergone so 
many and so radical changes, the legal literature had 
accumulated to such an enormous extent that the 
emperor, thinking to simplify matters, appointed a com- 
mission, of which the jurist Tribonian was the chief, to 
elaborate a reform by classifying and simplifying things. 
The work done by this commission was subdivided into 
three parts: i. the Institiitiones, a short, easy text-book 
for beginners; 2. the Digesta sen Pandecten^z.vz.^X. com- 
pilation of principles and opinions taken from the leading 
jurists of the classic era of the Roman law (under the 
empire before the partition) and arranged in fifty books 
under appropriate headings ; and, 3. the Codex, a similar 
collection of imperial statutes down to the reign of Jus- 
tinian himself. These three parts, as one work, were 
declared to be of equal authority, and to be the sole legal 
guide and standard in the realm of Justinian. Every- 
thing else was expressly abrogated. The codification 
thus prepared was to be regarded as self-explanatory. 
After it had been published, the emperor enacted from 
time to time a number of subsequent statutes, many of 
them very important ones, which were collected under 
the title of Novella, or new laws. These four works, 
then, the Institutes, Digest, Code, and Novels, taken as 
one, with a short appendix of feudal law and the so called 
Authentic^ Fredericiatics added in the reigns of the 



WIESBADEN— THE INSTITUTES. 129 

emperors Frederick I and II, constitute the Corpus Juris 
Civilis. 

Concerning the Institutes in particular, it was known 
that Tribonian's commission, in preparing their texL-book 
for beginners, had made Uberal use of a similar treatise 
written by one Gaius during the reign of the emperor 
Marcus Antoninus. They had simply taken the Insti- 
tutes of Gaius and adapted them to the usages of the 
sixth century, by omitting certain portions regarded as 
obsolete, inserting fresh matter, and slightly altering the 
phraseology of the portions retained. But what had 
become of the original Gaius .? No one could answer the 
question, and it was generally believed, until the begin- 
ning of the present century, that the Institutes of Gaius 
perished in the confusion of the Dark Ages. But in the 
year 1816, Niebuhr, who was then exploring the library 
at Verona, stumbled upon a manuscript that looked to 
him like a copy of the long lost work. Being unable 
himself to follow up the discovery, for want of time, he 
simply announced it. In 181 7, Goeschen, then professor 
at Gottingen, was sent to Verona, on Niebuhr's recom- 
mendation, to undertake the critical editing of the manu- 
script. It was far more serious than had been supposed, 
and the final success was one of the greatest triumphs of 
modern scholarship and ingenuity. Not only was the 
manuscript a palimpsest, a manuscript of which the orig- 
inal text had been covered by a second, but sixty-two of 
the one hundred and twenty-five pages of the MS. were 
even a double paUmpsest ; the second writing had been in 



130 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

its turn covered by a third. For over a year Goeschen, 
assisted by Bethmann-Hollweg, worked assiduously; by 
the most careful application of certain chemicals, he 
succeeded in erasing the second and third writings — the 
epistles of St. Jerome — and deciphering nearly all the 
original text. His first edition appeared in 1820, the sec- 
ond, containing the emendations of Blume, in 1824 ; they 
created a revolution in the study of the Roman law. I 
doubt whether any other literary discovery ever wrought 
such wonders. Let the reader imagine, if he can, Greek 
literature without Homer, and then let him imagine a 
copy of the Iliad or the Odyssey suddenly unearthed in 
some convent of Wallachia. The study of the Roman 
law in Germany has been reconstructed from top to bot- 
tom, to such an extent that Vangerow dismisses the entire 
early literature on the subject of Roman pleadings in the 
following pithy sentence : All books written on this sub- 
ject before the year 1820 are useless. But not only was 
the theory of pleadings understood for the first time, the 
entire body of the Roman law was overhauled. Passages 
in the corpus juris upon which whole libraries of angry 
controversial pamphlets had been written to no avail were 
now found to be quite plain ; technical terms, once unin- 
telligible, explained themselves in a very simple manner. 
The student had at last a small portable key with which 
to unlock three fourths of the mysteries that had haunted 
the corpus juris for a thousand years. I hazard little in 
asserting that at the present day the veriest tyro in the 
Roman law can glibly rattle off correct answers to many 



WIESBADEN— THE INSTITUTES. 131 

a grave question, and translate intelligibly more than one 
passage of the Digest that proved itself too difficult for 
the entire body of Italian, Dutch, French and German 
glossators and commentators from Irnerius down to Pu- 
fendorf and Gliick. 

The following extract may serve as a sample of the 
style of Gaius. It is taken from Lib. iv., § 16. Si in 
rem agebatur, mobilia quidem et moventia, quae modo in jus 
adferri adducive posse fit, in jure vindicabantur ad hmc mo- 
dutn. Qui vindicabat festucam tencbat. Deinde ipsam rem 
adprehendebat, velut hominem (i. e., a slave), et ita dicebat : 

HUNC EGO HOMINEM EX JURE QuiRITIUM MEUM ESSE 
AIO SECUNDUM SUAM CAUSAM SICUT DIXI. ECCE TIBI 

VINDICTAM IMPOSUI, et simul homini festucam imponebat. 
Adversus eadem similiter dicebat et faciebat. Cum uterque 
vindicasset, Praetor dicebat: Mittite ambo hominem. 
////" mittebant. Qui prior vindicaterit, ita alterum interro- 
gabat : Postulo anne dicas qua ex causa vindicav- 
ERis. Ille respondebat : Jus peregi sicut vindictam 
IMPOSUI. Deinde qui prior vindicaverit dicebat : Quando 

TU INJURIA VINDICAVISTI, D AERIS SACRAMENTO TE PRO- 

voco. Adversarius quoque dicebat: Similiter ego te, 
etc., etc. Nothing could be simpler than the wording of 
the above passage, but one must be more than a Latin 
scholar to understand it. Gaius is describing the old 
method of bringing a suit {legis actio) in the peculiar way 
called sacrajnento. The parties appear before the Prae- 
tor, with the object in dispute, if it is movable. Each 
claims it for his own. Thereupon the plaintiff challenges 



132 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

the defendant to a wager of fifty or five hundred asses, 
according to the value of the object, that he is the lawful 
owner. The money is deposited in some temple (hence 
the expiression in sacro ), and the judge settles merely the 
point who has lost the wager. The ownership is settled 
only indirectly, by implication. 

The reading of Gaius was not completed by the end 
of the vacation, but continued for some time into the 

winter semester. My associates were at first P of the 

Westphalians and M of the Saxons, both candidates 

at the approaching state examination in Celle. They 
were of course far more advanced than myself, and also 
older by two or three years, so that I derived great benefit 
from their superior knowledge. We constituted a com- 
fortable " clover-leaf," as the Germans call social trios. 
Our meetings were regular but perfectly informal. We 
met at one another's rooms in rotation for an hour or 
more every day. Each man had his own copy of Gaius, 
and the owner of the room was held to have in readiness 
the dictionaries and other works of reference. Our prac- 
tice was to translate a paragraph at a time, in turn, trying 
to make the rendering as close as possible, in fact to make 
it what would be in print an interlinear version, line by 
line, word by word. The listeners had the right to inter- 
rupt the one translating and call upon him for explana- 
tions. Our progress was very slow. Although the style 
of Gaius is simplicity itself, we spent often ten or fifteen 
minutes over a single phrase to get its exact technical 
signification. Thus the phrase hanc rem nieam esse aio 



WIESBADEN— THE INSTITUTES. 133 

ex jure Quiritium, means one thing, and hanc rem in 
bonis fneis esse means something very different. It was 
the object of our reading, then, to bring out all such dis- 
tinctions, to discuss them thoroughly, and, if necessary, 
trace them through the text-books. A German text-book 
on law always contains, besides the index of topics, an 
index of passages quoted from the corpus Juris, just as an 
EngHsh law book contains the list of cases cited. By 
consulting these indexes of passages and comparing Gains 
with Justinian, we were able to find whether the para- 
graph in question was cited by Puchta or Arndt or Van- 
gerow in their works and, if so, what were the various 
interpretations put upon it and deductions made from it. 
This naturally took a good deal of time, but the results 
were very gratifying. I found that, by dint of repetition 
and collateral reading, not only the outlines of the law 
were fixing themselves in my mind, but I was acquiring a 
high degree of facility in construing law-Latin. This, it 
may not be superfluous to observe, is a language by itself, 
differing from the ordinary classic Latin as the phrase- 
ology of Blackstone differs from that of Byron. The 
corpus Juris abounds in terms and phrases fully as techni- 
cal as the reliefs, primer seisins, estoppels of English legal 
treatises, and unless one understands them precisely, the 
corpus juris is a sealed book. The best Latin scholar, 
not a jurist, could not read a title of the Digest without 
being " floored " in every paragraph by one or more of 
them. The Institutes of Gains are not comprised in the 
corpus juris, it is true, but they serve all the better as a 
12 



134 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

propaedeutic by reason of their exhibiting the Roman 
law in an earlier stage of development. Whoever has 
worked his way faithfully through Gaius, can read the 
Institutes of Justinian off-hand, and after he has read 
these, he can construe readily passages taken from the 
Digest at random.* 

Besides reading the text of Gaius, we questioned one 
another every day on the substance of the preceding day's 
work, and tried to catch one another in a friendly way. 
This necessitated diligent review and preparation at 
home. The larger share of the benefit fell to me, of 
course, as the beginner. In one sense, my co-workers 
could teach me everything and I had nothing to give in 
return. But on the other hand, the duty of setting me 
aright obliged them to keep their own knowledge con- 
stantly in hand, as it were. They could not correct, they 
could not even interrogate me properly, without first put- 
ting their own ideas in perfect order. No one can realize 
— until he tries it — how much benefit he can derive from 
teaching, and how carefully he must overhaul his own 

* If the reader is desirous of testing his ingenuity by a rather difficult pas- 
sage, let me recommend the following from the Institutes of Justinian, gal. 
Ill, 29. Stipiilatio enitn Aquiliana novat omnes obligationes, et a Gallo 
A quilio ita comfiosita est : " Quicquid te mihi ex quacumque causa dare facere 
opportet^ opportebit^f>raesens in diemve, quarumqxie rerum mihi tecum actio ^ 
guaeque abs tepetitio, vel adversus te persecutio est, erit, quodve tu meum habeas, 
tenes, possides, possedisti, dolove mala fecisti quominus possideas^ quanti 
guiieque earutn rerum res erit, tantam pecuniam dari stipulatus est Aulus 
Agerius (one of the parties), spopondit Numerius Negidius (the other party). 
Item ex diverso Numerius Negidius interrogavit Aulum Agerium : ^'■Quic- 
quid tibi hodierno die per Aquilir.natn stipulationem spopondi, id omne habesne 
accepium ? " respondit A ulus Agerius : ^'Habeo acceptuvique tuli." The entire 
transaction is simply a drawing up of all claims held by one party against the 
other, with a view to making a formal release. 



WIESBADEN— THE INSTITUTES. 135 

information before he will succeed in imparting it to a 
beginner.* 

As well as I can remember, we finished the Institutes 
of Gaius four or five weeks after the beginning of the 
winter semester. The six weeks from September i. to 
October 15. passed like a pleasant dream, yet not without 
yielding permanent fruits. The work on which I was 
engaged, although difficult, was not discouraging, and 
was performed with pleasure, while the weather was 
simply faultless. The mornings and evenings were hazy, 
but the afternoons were resplendent. I devoted them 
religiously to recreation, either going over my rambles of 
the year before or playing an unlimited number of games 
of Kegel. The German game of nine-pins is different 
from our ten-pins. The pins are set up in diamond shape, 
and not in a triangle, and the count increases in a sort of 
geometrical ratio — instead of an arithmetical — with the 
number of pins thrown down. Each side begins with a 
minus number, say 300 or 400, and adds every count as a 
plus quantity. The game is over when the plus above 
zero on one side equals the minus below zero on the 
other. The alleys are much inferior to our own, but the 
game can be made to develop any amount of fun. The 
alleys are generally in the open air, in the garden of the 
restaurant, merely protected from the weather by a shed 
overhead. The game therefore affords a healthy exercise, 
free from the musty, whisky-laden atmosphere and other 

* It was part of Dr. Maxen's plan to make his advanced students "coach" 
their weaker brethren. 



136 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

disagreeable associations of the American bar-room, I 
look upon Kegel as the climax of amusement in the minor 
German towns. But then one must have an agreeable 
set of companions, and must be perhaps still in the 
twenties and a student, to enjoy it in perfection. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Annwersary of the Battle of Leipsic. — Comnier. 

AS the middle of October came around, I looked 
back upon the preceding six months with a pardon- 
able feeling of satisfaction. Although some time had 
been lost by the false start taken at Berlin, I had made 
the loss good by industry during the vacation, and was 
fully prepared for the heavy work of the approaching 
winter. Becoming more and more intimate with Dr. 
Maxen, I fell into the habit of looking up to him as gen- 
eral adviser and father confessor and giving him a full 
and impartial account of my studies. He gave me in 
return the comfortable assurance that I was rather in 
advance of the average student of like standing. " Do 
not be discouraged, he often said, you have done almost 
work enough for two semesters. At all events, you are 
fairly started. Remain here in Gottingen, lose no more 
time, and all will be well." 

After finishing Gaius, my friends P and M 

left for Celle, to enter the state examination. I had yet 
the Institutes of Justinian to read. Dr. Maxen was suc- 
cessful, however, in arranging a second "clover-leaf" 
quite as good as the first. The two new members were 
E and S , both Westphalians. E was my 

*I2 



138 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

superior in age and academic standing, being then in his 
fourth semester. He was also a young man of decided 
legal acumen and of quick perceptions, but had not yet 

developed into a very steady worker. S was a Fuchs 

in his second semester, like myself, but having spent his 
time after the approved fashion in Kneipen and Fauken, 
knew very little law. So far as he was concerned, then, I 
occupied the dignified position of teacher. Indeed, 
thanks to the regular working habits acquired in the 

vacation, I put E himself on his mettle to retain the 

lead. Between us, we succeeded in keeping our Fuchs 
busy. It always affords high moral satisfaction to know 
that there is somebody worse off than yourself, toward 
whom you can assume the air of superior information. 
We finished the Institutes by the middle of November. 
I should state that the edition which we used was that 
prepared by Gneist, of Berlin. It is a very handy, prac- 
tical book. Each page is divided into two parallel col- 
umns. The left hand column is reserved for Gaius, 
the right for Justinian. The two works are thus placed 
side by side, so that the reader has the greatest facility 
for comparing them, and also for reviewing his studies. 
I improved the opportunity, while reading Justinian, by 
reviewing Gaius entire, passage for passage. 

Before proceeding to give an account of the winter 
lectures, I wish to say a few words about Kneipen in con- 
nection with the most imposing student affair of the kind 
that I attended. The word Kncipe has a double meaning. 
It denotes the place where drinking is done, the drinking- 



BA TTLE OF LEI P SIC— COMMERS. 139 

hall or room or house, or it denotes the drinking itself, 
the carouse. The verb Kneipen means to drink, being 
used promiscuously with trinken j bckfieipt, for instance, is 
the same as betrunken. 

In whatever other respects the German student may 
be irregular, he always kneips according to rule. It is 
not necessary to go into all the particulars of the Ger- 
man beer-code ; to be frank, I do not know them all 
myself, for they are as complicated and numerous as the 
provisions of the Notherbenrecht (doctrine of disinherit- 
ance) of the corpus juris. The reader who wishes to post 
himself thoroughly can study the famous Heidelberg 
Bier-comment or Sauf -comment. The chief point is that 
when you sit down with other students to a Kneipe, you 
must drink with the others and not according to your 
own fancy. Even if you are an invited guest, you will 
commit a breach of etiquette by drinking by yourself. 
You must always " come " to the health of some one in 
particular. The modus operandi is this. A calls out to 
B : £s kommt Ihnen {Dir) etwas, Ich komme Dir einen 
halben, einen ganzen vor, that is : " Here's something to 
you, a half glass, a whole glass," as the case may be. 
This is called Vorkomtnen. B's duty is to respond, 
which he can do in a variety of phrases, such as : Prosit, 
trink'ih?iy Trinken Sie i/in, sauf'ihn, in die Welt, etc. B 
must also drink exactly the same quantity. This he can 
do either immediately, saying Jc/i komme mit, literally, 
" I come along with you," or after an interval, when he 
says, Ich komme nach, "I come after you." When B 



X40 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

comes mit or nach to A, he can at the same time come 
vor to any third man C, thereby making one potation do 
double service. If A wishes to drink to the health of 
B without putting him under the obligation of mitkom- 
men or fiachkommen, he says : Auf Ihr {deiti) Specifies, 
i. e., " To your especial good health." This is the usual 
way of showing attention to an invited guest, particularly 
one rather advanced in life or in social standing. 

Every K?ieipe has a master, or presiding officer, whose 
duty it is to see that each man meets the requirements 
of the Comment^ and from whose decision there is no 
appeal. He gives tone and character to the entertain- 
ment, selecting the songs to be sung, and appointing the 
editor of the so called Beer-gazette. This is a sort of 
comic paper, either in prose or verse, composed im- 
promptu, and devoted to the persiflage of the members 
of the kneipe and the incidents of the week. The 
master can punish disorder or disobedience, by ordering 
the unruly member to drink a quantity of \t^^x pro poena, 
as it is called. 

One of the side performances of a Kneipe is a " beer 
duel." Two students, wishing to ascertain which one is 
the better man, i. e., the faster drinker of the two, 
choose an umpire. This umpire places the duelists side 
by side, sees that each one has his glass properly filled, 
and calls off: One, two, three. At the word three, each 
one must put his glass to his mouth and empty it as fast 
as he can. The one who can rap his glass first on the 
table is the victor. It is the umpire's duty to see that 



BATTLE OF LEIPSIC.— COMMERS. 141 

the duel has been fairly conducted, i. e., that no heel-tap 
is left in the glass. The victor has the right to call the 
other his beer-boy, Bierjungen. To challenge another 
to the duel is, in technical parlance, iJun einen Bierjungen 
aufbruintnen. I advise my countrymen not to venture 
upon a beer-duel without considerable preliminary prac- 
tice, for the greenhorn may be sure of getting the worst. 
The veteran student has a knack at swallowing beer that 
would horrify any respectable professor of anatomy and 
hygiene. In truth, he does not swallow at all ; he throws 
his head slightly back, opens his mouth and, holding his 
breath, simply pours the beer down the esophagus as if 
it were a long funnel. The rapidity with which a glass 
of beer can be made to disappear by this process is 
something incredible. 

The 1 8th of October, 1863, was the semi-centennial 
anniversary of the great battle of Leipsic. German 
patriotism rose to fever-heat, the students of course 
catching the contagion. It was resolved to hold a grand 
Studenten-kneipe on the evening of the eighteenth in the 
large hall of the Deutsches Haus, outside the Geismar 
Gate. To those who know Germany merely as she is 
now, a compactly united empire, under one supreme 
head and one legislative body chosen by direct election, 
the days of the old Bund will appear, I suspect, a 
mystery. In 1863 there was no Germany, so far as con- 
cerned form, concert of action, anything beyond hope^^ 
and sentiments ; there were thirty German countries 
pulling as many different ways. 



142 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

In 1864, for instance, some of the students at Gottin- 
gen assembled in the railway station and gave three 
groans for Bismarck, as he passed through on his way to 
Berlin ; the university thought it advisable to transmit to 
the Prussian government an explanation and formal dis- 
avowal. Prior to 1866, certainly, the old saying, that 
wherever two Germans met there were sure to be three 
different opinions, still held good even to the details of 
common life. As to organizing any public entertainment 
without a squabble of one kind or another, it was quite 
impossible. The solemn commemoration of the battle 
of Leipsic gave rise at Gottingen to a quarrel between 
the Corps-studenten and the Wilden over the matter of 
precedence in the procession through the streets. 
Neither party would yield an inch. They came almost 
to blows in broad daylight in front of the Town Hall, 
and nothing but the personal interference of the Pro- 
rector and his " poodles " prevented bloodshed. 

The result was that the Corps-studenten held the Kneipe 
by themselves. I had been invited two or three days 
before by my Westphalian friends ; although regretting 
the disturbance, I did not judge that it compelled me to 
forego the Kneipe. Besides, there might not be another 
such opportunity of seeing all the Corps-studenten to- 
gether. 

Knowing the importance of keeping both mind and 
body fresh for the encounter, I passed the afternoon dili- 
gently at Kegel. The banquet began at half-past seven 
in the evening. The hall was decorated with the Hano- 



BATTLE OF LEIP SIC— COMMERS. 143 

verian colors, and with the colors of the several corps. 
Each corps sat by itself, at its own table. The West- 
phalians had the presidency,* as well as I can remem- 
ber. Being on speaking terms with nearly all, and 
knowing three or four quite intimately, I felt at ease at 
their table. A plain but good supper was served in two 
or three courses. The toasts were then in order. After 
the lapse of so many years, I do not pretend to remem- 
ber any of the speeches ; indeed, I made no attempt to 
charge my mind with them at the time. Partiality for 
German scholarship and German books does not imply 
admiration for German oratory. Now and then one 
hears a strong address in the Prussian House of Depu- 
ties or the Imperial Diet. Bismarck, Lasker, Gneist, 
Windhorst-Meppen, and the other leaders of debate say 
very good things, and say them to the point, with a 
refreshing absence of "buncombe." Still, we shall 
scarcely do the Germans injustice by declining to rate 
their public speaking as true oratory. It does not appeal 
to the soul, it does not sweep the soul off in a tide of 
passion tempered by reason, or reason quickened by 
passion. 

Public speaking in Germany is rather didactic. I 
doubt whether the language will permit flights of oratory. 
The structure of the sentence, especially the dependent 
clauses, is such as to make the orator appear almost of 
necessity halting and diffuse. He can not place his 

♦ This shifts from year to year in rotation. 



144 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 



emphatic words as he wishes, but must run the risk of 
bkinting the point of an expression by a trail of pro- 
crastinating verbs and separable particles. Furthermore, 
the Germans are not very happy in after-dinner speaking. 
They are too ponderous, they do not possess the art of 
saying clever nothings that provoke mirth and facilitate 
digestion. 

The speeches delivered at the banquet in question 
were not above the average. Several professors were 
present as invited guests and made short formal har- 
angues. One or two of the students, it seemed to me, 
did better than their instructors. At least they had 
more fire, more " snap." The key-note was of course 
German patriotism and German unity. Germany was 
faithfully praised and no less faithfully exhorted. 
France, I am able to state, was not abused. French- 
men were spoken of as " invaders," and Germany was 
congratulated on having rid herself of them and under- 
taken to work out her destiny for herself. But patriotism 
did not degenerate into chaiivnisme. The general tone 
was healthy ; there was plenty of thankfulness for what 
had been done, and exuberant confidence in the future, 
but there was no trace of aggressive rancor.* r 

The professors and other elderly guests beat a retreat 
before ten o'clock, leaving the students to display their 
peculiar youthful qualities without restraint. I shall not 

* The reader may find fresh proof of the absence of malice from the Ger- 
man character in the circumstance that the Marseillaise was played repeatedly 
at public concerts in Berlin in 1872 and 1873, and nearly always encored. 



BATTLE OF LEIPSIC—COMMERS. 1 45 

attempt to describe the babel that ensued. The reader 
has only to imagine half a dozen students haranguing at 
once in varying degrees of " inspir^ation," healths drunk 
right and left, glasses jingling, masters of ceremonies 
bawling to order, waiters rushing to and fro. But has 
the reader ever heard of that august ceremony called 
" rubbing a salamander .? " Let me give it. The presi- 
dent rises from his chair and, carefully clearing his 
throat and filling his lungs, lets the thundering words 
resound through the room : Silentium^ meine Herren, 
silentium ! ! Schmidt, du tri/ikst einen pro poena. — Pst! 
Ruhig, sonst trinkst du noch einen. " Smith, you've got to 
drink one as a fine (for having interrupted me). Pst ! be 
quiet, or else you'll get another." Sileutiinn ! Fischer^ 
zwei pro poena ! " Gentlemen, in consideration of the glo- 
rious occasion we celebrate, I herewith call upon you " 

Fbrster, du kriegst zwei pro poena, will mir keiner den 
Kerl herausschmeissen, " two for Foster, will nobody do 

me the kindness to put the fellow out " " call upon 

you, gentlemen, to participate in the joyous exercise of 
rubbing a salamander." Ad exercitium salamandri, dro, 
drum. Aufsiehen, aufsiehen, " get up ! Hannemann, 
why don't you get up, I say.? " (H 's neighbors in- 
form the president that H is abgef alien, too far gone 

to rise). " Well, then, help him up, stand him on his 
legs. Gentlemen ! All glasses full ? " Ad exercitium 
salafnandri, " One, two, three ! Drink out ! " Hanne- 
mann, du hast nicht ausgefrunken. (Here H , 

assisted by his friends, succeeds in getting some of the 

n 



146 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

beer down his throat, but the larger share over his shirt). 
Silentium, " One, two, three." (Here every man pounds 
his glass furiously on the table). Ad loca ! Ad loca ! 
" Take your seats." 

The salamander is bad enough, but something infinitely 
worse is the Bierwalzer, one of those thumping waltzes 
of which the Germans are so fond. The music rises and 
falls, a slight pause is made ; suddenly every one com- 
mences to keep time with the music, first by stamping on 
the floor, next by whistling, lastly by jingling glasses ; 
then comes the .final outburst unisono in the thrilling 
words : O jerum jerum jerum Jerum, la la la, etc. On 
reaching the fourth or fifth verse of this simple melody, 
one need not be surprised to notice that his head shows 
a remarkable proclivity to roll all over the room, while 
his heart is expansive enough to embrace the universe. 
My remembrances of the finale of the great Eighteenth- 
of-October Co/nmers* are that I became involved in a 
very elaborate and eloquent discussion with two West- 
phalians, likewise studiosi juris, upon the dominium ex 
jure Quiritium and the equitable functions of the Prae- 
torian Edict, very fertile topics, upon which one can talk 
all night without coming to a conclusion. My friend 

P , the veteran of a hundred Kneipen, who had me 

under his especial charge as his guest, came to the rescue, 
by suggesting, in a whisper, that perhaps " we " had bet- 
ter make our escape. So I took French leave of the 

* Commers is the name given to a Kneife of a more grandiose character 
than usual. 



BA TTLE OF LEI P SIC— COMMERS. 147 

Cotnmers, and reached my quarters in safety. The next 
morning I had a sHght touch of /a??imer, not serious, 
just enough to make me feel disposed to be out in the 
open air, and indisposed to work. As lectures had not 
yet commenced, I lost nothing. It may not be going too 
far out of my way to observe that Jatmner has its 
degrees, its gironi^ as the student of Dante might term 
them, three in number : der gewbhnliche Hauskater^ der 
Wildkater, and das graue Elend. Woe to the man 
who has plunged recklessly into the abyss of the 
graues Elend. I remember seeing once a fellow- 
countryman, anything but a neophyte in such mat- 
ters, after he had fallen into the hands of the Phil- 
istines. He had been beguiled into accepting an 
invitation to pass the evening over a bowl of Swedish 
punch, an infamous decoction brewed after Father Tom's 
recipe, except that arrack is substituted for whisky. You 
take a little sugar and some arrack, and then you put in 
some more sugar, and then some more arrack, and every 
drop of water you put in after that only spoils the punch. 
My poor friend, relying upon general experience, and 
ignorant of what he was dealing with, had been com- 
pletely fooled by the sweetness of the beverage into 
drinking an inordinate number of glasses. The conse- 
quence was that by four o'clock in the afternoon he had 
just crawled out of bed, and was lying hopeless on the 
sofa, trying to recall his vanished animation with an occa- 
sional sip of very mild brandy and water. A more woe- 



148 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

begone, spiritless countenance it would be hard to 
imagine. 

The students have a superb collection of songs in their 
Corm?iersbuch. The reader is doubtless familiar with 
Was kommt denn von der H'oh, and one or two others in 
Longfellow's charming translation. It gives me pleasure, 
even now in these later years, to turn over the leaves of 
the Commersbuch and read as chance may direct. Many 
of these songs are quite old. Volkslieder, perhaps, that 
sprang up among the scholastici vagantes of the fifteenth 
and sixteenth centuries ; others bear the names of the 
most famous poets of Germany, such as Goethe, Korner. 
Burger, Uhland, Arndt. There is a wonderful poetic 
vein running through them, a mingling of wit, humor, 
pathos, rude physical life, beautiful imagery, absurd slang. 
The Commersbuch is as chaotic, as irrepressible, as full of 
good and evil in glaring juxtaposition, as the student- 
life itself. Generations of young men have labored upon 
it to make it what it is, the one student song-book in the 
world. Yet the singing, I regret to say, is scarcely equal 
to the music. Whether the voices are made gruff by 
excessive quantities of beer, whether there is a want of 
tenors among the students, at all events the singing, 
although hearty and correct in time, is not as melodious 
as it should be. It has always left me unsatisfied. 



CHAPTER X. 

The Pandects. 

t~~\ NE might while away many an unoccupied hour not 
^-^ unpleasantly in speculating upon the general char- 
acter of Justinian's codification. That the emperor him- 
self, whom the modern critic is constantly tempted to set 
down as a " prig," fondly regarded his codification as 
something wonderful, is evident from the extravagant 
self-laudation in the Digestorum confirmatio. Itnperator 
Caesar Flavins Justinianus, Alamannicus, Gotthicus^ 
Francicus, Gennanicus^ Anticns, Alanicus, Vandalicus, 
Africanus, pins, felix, iticlytus, victor triumphator, sem- 
per colendus Augustus, etc., etc. § i — nunc vero otnnium 
veteruni juris conditorum colligentes sententias e multi- 
tudine librorufn, qui erant circiter dua millia, nutnerum 
autem versuum habebant tricies centena 7nillia, in modera- 
twn et perspicuum collegimus cotnpendiimi. Quinqtiaginta 
itaque nufic fecimus libros e superioribus colligentes utilia, 
et omnes ambiguitates resecantes, et nihil adhuc dissidem 
relinquentes. Quern librum Digesta sive Pa?idecten appel- 
lavimus, tu?n quod legum cotitineat disputationes, ac decis- 
iones, tu?n exeo, quod onuiia in unum collecta recipiat, 
hanc ipsi potientes appellationeni j ?io?i ultra centum quin- 
quaginta verstmm millia ipsi dantes, et in septem illu?n 



GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 



digerentes tractatus, idque non tetnere, verum numerorum 
naiuram el concentum spectantes. 

The idea of simplifying the great body of the Roman 
law, by substituting one compact work for a whole library, 
was praiseworthy. But the execution was anything but 
faultless. There are many places, indeed, where the work 
of Tribonian and his fellow Commissioners seems to have 
amounted to little more than a diligent use of scissors 
and paste. The Commission drew up a scheme of work, 
laying out the law like a vegetable garden, here a place 
for cabbages, there a patch for turnips, potatoes, or the 
like, and then filling up the several compartments by the 
mechanical process of transplanting. The Digest makes 
a stout volume of 900 lexicon octavo pp., double col- 
umns, solid matter, divided into fifty books, each book 
subdivided again into titles. The subdivisions of a title 
are called leges^ and each lex may have one or more par- 
agraphs. The German mode of citation is thus : 1. 2, § 
32 D. de orig. jur. (I, 2). One might suppose that at 
least each title would be worked up into something like 
homogeneity, that is to say, that the Commission, after 
collecting their authorities, would really digest them, 
would extract the principles embodied in the works of 
Papinian, Gaius, Paulus, Ulpian, etc., retaining perhaps 
the phraseology to a large extent, but nevertheless recast- 
ing the whole. But this they did not do. They simply 
extracted passages from the great Roman jurists of the 
classic period, putting them together as beads are arranged 
on a string. Their work accordingly is nothing more 



THE PANDECTS. 151 



than a mosaic of quotations. To such an excess did 
they carry this patching process, that in some instances 
they even made up a complete sentence or opinion with 
fragments of sentences from two or more authors. Thus, 
in the Title de procuratoribus et defemoribtis (III, 3), lex 8 
(taken from Ulpian) ends .• Item si dignitas accesserit pro- 
curatori, vel reipublicae causa abfuturus sit, lex 9 (Gaius) 
aut si valetudinem, aut si necessariam peregrinatione^n alleget, 
lex 10 (Ulpian once more) vel hereditas superveniens eum 
occupet, vel ex alia justa causa. Hoc ampliiis et si habeat 
praesentem dominutn., non debere compelli p ro curator em .^ lex 
II (Paulus) si tamen dominus cogi possit. 

To read the Digest, then, is hard work. The Latin is 
simple, but the reader must have the exactest understand- 
ing of technical terms, and such a grasp of the subject as 
to be able to master the most condensed expressions of 
thought and very abrupt transitions. A lex is usually 
either a passage selected from a theoretical treatise, or an 
opinion in a case. If it is the latter, nothing but the 
facts are given and the opinion. I offer specimens of 
both. 

Lex I (Paulus) D. de usufr. (VII, i). Ususfructus est 
jus alienis rebus utendi frucndi salva rerum substantia is 
merely a theoretical definition, l^ex 20, Ulpianus, same 
title : Si quis ita legaverit, '■fructus afinuos fvndi Corneliani 
Caio Maevio do, lego,' perinde accipi debet hie serjno, ac si 
ususfructus esset legatus, is an instance of equitable 
construction. The intentions of the testator, mani- 
fested in the woxdi?, fructus annuos, are to be carried out, 



152 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

although he has failed to use the technical expression 
ususfructus. 

Until comparatively recent times, the study of the Pan- 
dects consisted in listening to or reading a sort of run- 
ning commentary upon the principal passages of the fifty 
books, in the order in which they occur. But this method 
has gone out of use, in Germany at least. A professor 
who lectures on the Pandects arranges his own order of 
topics, or follows that of some popular text-book, gener- 
ally that of Arndts. In either case, the order is strictly 
scientific and the subdivision very minute. The course 
is a systematic grouping and exposition of the principles 
scattered throughout the corpus Juris, each statement 
being supported by references. 

The winter's work was heavy. I had Pandects with 
Professor Mommsen every day, including Saturday, from 
nine to eleven. Criminal Law with Professor Zacharige 
every day from twelve to one, Doctrine of Inheritance 
with Dr. Schlesinger five times a week, in the afternoon. 
History of Civil Procedure among the Romans with Dr. 
Maxen twice a week. In all, twenty-five hours of rapid 
writing a week. The lecturers. Dr. Maxen excepted, 
gave very little tempus; Mommsen, in particular, scarcely 
any. 

I have an indistinct remembrance of reading years ago 
a well written magazine article on German university life, 
but the author's name has escaped me. Whoever he may 
be, he has made one serious misstatement which I feel 
called upon to correct. He says that, with a view to 



THE PANDECTS. 153 



acquiring facility in translation from German into Eng- 
lish, he made a practice of translating in the lecture- 
room, writing down his notes (from the lecturer's words) 
in English and not in German. To me this sounds 
like an impossibility. I have heard many lectures 
from many different men, but never a lecture that could 
be translated off-hand after this fashion. A hearer 
thoroughly familiar with both languages might select a 
sentence here and there arid put it into crude English, 
But he would certainly not succeed in getting complete 
notes. The best proof that I can give is my own experi- 
ence. Having always been a ready penman, and having 
acquired a high degree of proficiency in German through 
a residence of two years and constant attention to the 
language in general, and to legal phraseology in partic- 
ular, I could take notes as fast as any of the German 
students. By exerting myself to the utmost, I succeeded 
in taking down everything said or dictated by Mommsen 
and Zachariae. The others spoke too fast. My notes on 
the Pandects, on Criminal Law, and on Ecclesiastical 
Law were as full as those of any other student in the 
class, and were borrowed continually by my colleagues. 
Yet I can assure the reader that, in order to succeed, I 
had to put forth every effort in the way of concentrated 
attention and systematic abbreviation. As a specimen 
of note-taking, I give the following passages, one from 
Mommsen, the other from Herrmann ; assuring the reader 
that both were written as fast as the pen could be made 
to move over the paper : 



154 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

MoMMSEN. " Unter DOS vrstht fnan ein Gut welches 
von d. Ffau od fur dieselb. d. Manne gegeb. wird, damit 
ihm durch d. Gefiuss desselb. fur d. Dauer d. Ehe ein fort- 
gehend. Beitrag zr. Bestreitg d. Kosten d. ehel. Lebens 
gew'ahrt iverde." 

Written out in full : Unter DOS (dower, according to 
the Roman Law) lersteht man ein Gut, welches von der 
Frau oder fur dieselbe dem Manne gegeben wird, damit 
ihm durch den Genuss desselben fur die Dauer der Ehe 
ein fortgehetider Beitrag zur Bestreitung der Kosten des 
ehelichen Lebens gewdhrt werde. 

" Upset " into English on the spot, the passage could 
not possibly be put into more tolerable shape than the 
following : By " dower " we understand a piece of prop- 
erty which by the wife or on her acc't is given to the 
husband, in order that to him through the use thereof 
for the duration of the marriage a permanent contribu- 
tion toward meeting the expenses of matrimony may be 
secured. 

Herrmann — " Z). Kirche ist d. v. X^^s gestiftete, 
mit d. zr. geschichtl. Fortf'uhrg. d. Erlosgswerks erforderl. 
Volbnacht. u. Gaben ausgerustete u durch. Einsetzg d. 
immer wdhrend. Apostolats verfasste Anstlt." 

Die Kirche ist die von Christus gestiftete, mit den 
ziir geschichtlichen Fortfuhrung des Erfdsungswerkes 
erforderlichen Vollmachten und Gaben ausgerustete und 
dtirch Einsetzung des immer w'dhrenden Apostolats verfasste 
Anstalt. 

This would look still worse, " upset : " The Church is 



THE PANDECTS. 155 



the by Christ founded, with the for the historic carrying 
out of the plan of redemption needful powers and gifts 
furnished and by the institution of the perpetual apos- 
tolic succession constituted establishment. 

Will any one believe that a succession of such sen- 
tences, kept up by the hour, can be translated currente 
calamo? Or that the attempt, if seriously made, will 
lead to anything but the direst confusion of both lan- 
guages ? I never thought of making the attempt, but 
was satisfied, and very justly satisfied, with holding the 
thread of the discourse in my mind, while my fingers 
formed the German letters mechanically. Furthermore, I 
venture to doubt whether a man can be found able to 
translate off-hand, even from a printed book, provided the 
style be at all above the simplest narrative prose. The 
structure of the German sentence forbids rapid transla- 
tion. The translator has to change the order of words 
and ransack his vocabulary for equivalents. Although 
knowing men by the score, who could read a German 
book as rapidly and get as clear an ide i of the meaning 
as if it were expressed in English, I have never yet seen 
one who could put the same book into even intelligible 
English without stopping to consider carefully each sen- 
tence. 

I should therefore dissuade every countryman of mine 
from attempting to translate in the lecture hour, so long 
as he regards the lecture as a mode of imparting substan- 
tial truth, and not as a mere occasion for practice in 
language. Translation is a most excellent exercise, but 



156 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

it cannot be cultivated to advantage when reader and 
hearer have not a moment to spare for mere matters of 
form. Training is one thing, knowledge is another ; the 
shortest cut to knowledge will generally be found to be 
the best. After one has resided long enough in a foreign 
country, he acquires the power of catching directly ideas 
expressed in the language of that country, without hav- 
ing to subject the words to any intermediate process of 
translation. When one has reached this stage, he cannot 
do better than to receive statements of fact and opinion 
just as they are given, to let them act upon him with undi- 
minished force, instead of weakening their impression 
by seeking to give them an intermediate and necessarily 
imperfect shape. 

The labor, it is perhaps superfluous to say, was wearing. 
One cannot attend twenty-five hours of lecture per 
week, taking full notes, and not feel his brain and fingers 
grow weary. In addition to the lectures, I had a good 
deal of collateral reading. Besides finishing the Insti- 
tutes of Justinian, I also read with an older student a 
number of selected titles from the Digest, worked up my 
notes as fast as they accumulated, consulted such works 
as Vangerow and Goeschen on the Pandects, and Berner 
on Criminal Law, to say nothing of Rudorff's Rechts- 
geschichte and Keller's History of Civil Procedure by 
Formulae^ and reviewed the greater part of Puchta. My 
relations with Dr. Maxen became more and more inti- 
mate. The doctor had several ways of extracting infor- 
mation without seeming to question ; his favorite method 



THE PANDECTS. 157 



was to start some very heretical proposition and lure his 
victim on to combatting it vigorously. He was, there- 
fore, accurately posted, not only as to what I was hearing 
and reading, but also the greater or less extent to which 
I had really mastered the subjects. At the end of the 
semester, he said to me in an encouraging manner: " You 
have certainly done well so far. I don't know how long 
you will be able to keep up this rate of work, but if you 
can only hold out until next Fall, and can be exempted 
from examination in German law, you might perhaps " go 
in " for your degree. But you must consult Ribben- 
tropp. He is not the dean of the faculty at present, but 
he is the Nestor, and if he takes an interest in you, your 
chances are good. I cannot help you directly in the 
matter, but I can do something indirectly. There is a 
mass of work yet to be done. You must have Ecclesias- 
tical Law and a Pandecten Practicum, and go through a 
regular Repetito7-ium. I hope to be able to organize one 
this summer. Several students have made application, 
but I am not willing to take everybody, and four is the 
limit. If three of the right kind offer themselves, shall I 
reserve the fourth place for you 1 " I thanked him 
warmly, and assured him that it would meet my wishes 
exactly to place myself for an entire term under his per- 
sonal supervision. 

14^ 



CHAPTER XI. 

The American Colofiy — Birthdays. 

f~^ OTTINGEN has always been an attractive place to 
^-^ Americans. Scarcely a semester has elapsed in 
the past twenty or thirty years without the attendance of 
at least four or five. In the summer of 1861, just before 
my arrival, the number amounted to eighteen, just enough 
to organize a base-ball club and play one game on the 
Lower Marsh. The fame of that trial of athletic skill 
has not been dimmed by the course of time. Those who 
participated in it will know what I mean. During the 
winter of 1861-2, the number was nine or ten. The next 
summer it dropped to two. The following winter it rose 
to eight. In the summer it again dropped to four. In 
the winter of 1863-4 it was ten, in the following summer 
only four. The reader will observe that the falling off 
took place in summer. This was due, I am inclined to 
believe, to the superior attractiveness of Heidelberg as a 
place of summer resort. In my student days Heidelberg 
was the fashionable university, and a wonderfully cosmo- 
politan place for its size. When I visited it in the 
autumn of 1864, there were nearly forty American stu- 
dents, almost as many Englishmen, not a few Frenchmen, 
Greeks, Poles and ItaUans, to say nothing of the numer- 



THE AMERICAN COLONY— BIRTHDA YS. 159 

ous English and American families residing there per- 
manently. I counted, one evening, eighteen or twenty 
of my countrymen at one time in the same cafe. At 
present, the fashionable university is Leipsic. 

The Americans in Gottingen styled themselves the 
" colony." Who invented the name, I am unable to state. 
It certainly outdates my recollections. The oldest 
American resident was eo ipso "the patriarch," It 
was his duty to be on the look-out for newcomers, give 
them assistance in the way of finding rooms and the like, 
and take charge of the colony record and flag. The 
record was a simple note-book, rather handsomely bound, 
in which the newcomers entered their names and resi- 
dences at home. The flag was a small piece of canvas 
painted in the likeness of the stars and stripes, and 
framed. When a patriarch left Gottingen, it was his 
duty to transfer the flag and book to the next oldest 
resident. 

Not having the record before me, I am unable to speak 
with any certainty concerning the earlier members of the 
colony. Only three or four names occur to me, namely 
those of Mr. Bancroft, our Minister at Berlin, Professor 
Goodwin of Harvard, Professors Joy and Chandler of 
Columbia College, and Professor Nason of the Rensselaer 
Polytechnic. The Gottingen colony, although never very 
numerous, had one decided superiority over Heidelberg 
and perhaps also over Bonn. It was more homogeneous, 
the individual members were well disposed one toward 
the other. In my student days, which covered the period 



l6o GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

of our great civil war, the party line between Southerner 
and Northerner was drawn very sharply in Heidelberg. 
The two sets did not quarrel, to any extent, but they kept 
aloof from each other. In Gottingen, there were never 
more than two Southerners together at a time, and they 
did not, I am happy to say, constitute an element of dis- 
cord. Although holding their own political views, they 
did not put them forward in a way to offend others. The 
consequence was that our little colony lived in perfect 
harmony. We saw a good deal of one another, and were 
in the main what might be called a "jolly set." We cer- 
tainly were very jolly during the winter of 1863-4. For 
my own part, I shall always look back to that winter with 
feelings of peculiar pleasure. We numbered ten, and 
did not count a single black sheep, a single idler. We 
represented nearly all the leading branches of study* 
there was one man in theology, another in philology, my- 
self in law, two in medicine, the rest in chemistry. Each 
man worked away for himself, in very independent style, 
but our social reunions were numerous. To say nothing 
of casual meetings on working days, in one or another of 
the dozen Kneipen and cafes about town, we invariably 
turned out in force at the Kaffee-coiicerte held every 
Saturday afternoon in the music hall of the Museum. 
These Kaffee-concerte., otherwise styled family concerts, 
were open only to members of the Museum and their 
families, but as nearly all the students were members, the 
student attendance was the leading element. Philistia 
alone was excluded. The music was instrumental, and 



THE A ME RICA N COL ONY— BIR THDA YS. 1 6 1 

was given by the University orchestra. It was good, bfit 
— for Germany — not very good. Still, it was all that 
could be had in those days.* The order, I need scarcely 
say, was excellent. There were no seats in the English 
or American fashion. The body of the hall was filled 
with small tables, around which the audience sat on de- 
tached chairs. Although in theory any one was free to 
sit at any table, as a matter of fact the professors and 
their families occupied one part of the room, the Privat- 
docenten another, the students still another. Smoking 
and drinking went on uninterruptedly, conversation was 
suspended during the performance of a piece. One was 
at liberty to pass from table to table during the intervals, 
and exchange salutations with his friends and acquaint- 
ances. The " women-folk " occupied themselves with 
their knitting or crochet-work, and sipped coffee. The 
men generally preferred something stronger. It may be 
interesting to study the table of say Hofrath So and So. 
The learned Hofrath himself sits puffing philosophically 
from a twenty dollar (per mille) cigar and evolving all 
sorts of theories and definitions with the gray-blue smoke. 
Opposite sits the Frau Hofrathin, her attention divided 
between trying to knit a stocking without looking at the 
needles and keeping watch over the youngest child, a 
hopeful youth of four, who has a partly filled glass of 
beer all to himself, in honor of the occasion, and who 
seems bent either upon upsetting said glass or sliding off 

* I have learned that since Gottingen has become a Prussian town, it rejoices 
in one or two excellent military bands. Sic ve nit gloria mundi. 

*I4 



l62 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

his chair. Ffui Fritz, wie du unartig bist, heute, for shame, 
how naughty you are to-day, says the mother reproach- 
fully, whereupon Master Fritz makes a desperate effort to 
sit upright and drink his beer " like a man," only holding 
the glass in both hands. The Hofrath's sons are off at 
some other table, kneiping with their student brethren. 
The three unmarried daughters, securely sandwiched be- 
tween papa and mamma, scarcely lift their eyes from 
their work, but ply needle and thread as though running 

a race. Herr Dr. , who is verlobt with the eldest, sits 

at a respectful distance from his fiancee, not saying much, 
but stealing a sly squeeze of the hand now and then 
under the table, at the risk of getting his fingers pricked. 
You cannot hear what is said at the table, but, judging 
from the looks and smiles interchanged, you are led to 
suspect that there is a deal of gossip going on. In fact, 
the students have nicknamed these musical entertain- 
ments Klatsch-concerte .* 

Our " American " table was in one corner of the hall, 
by a side-door, and conveniently near the source of 
supplies. As the waiters all knew us by face and name, 
and had an abiding faith in our Trinkgelder., we did not 
suffer from thirst. Many a learned professor and doctor 
at the other end, irate from long waiting, must have 
anathematized the wretched " service." If they had but 
known how the Yankees were intercepting their supplies ! 

* It may not be amiss to state that German married women are fond ot 
meeting in knots of three and four in the afternoon at each other's houses, for 
the purpose of enjoying a social cup of coffee. To these innocent gatherings 
their unfeeling liege lords have given the name of Kaffeeklatsch. 



THE AMERICAN COLONY— BIRTHDA YS. 163 

The reader need not infer, however, that our concert- 
sessions amounted to orgies. German students, or 
students in Germany, as the reader may prefer, lead in 
the main a free Hfe, but in certain particulars they are 
scrupulous observers of rule. Among themselves, they 
throw aside restraint and drink to their heart's content, 
or discontent. On the other hand, in the presence of 
their superiors, they invariably keep within bounds. I 
doubt whether the wildest Corpsbursch would suffer him- 
self to become befuddled with the eyes of the whole 
university as it were upon him. The thing has hap- 
pened, I am aware. The most flagrant instance was in 
1837, during the ceremonies attending the centennial 
anniversary of the founding of the university. The 
students broke into the banquet-hall before the ap- 
pointed time, and literally ate and drank up everything, 
even the dishes prepared for his Majesty, the King of 
Hanover. But then those were troublous times. Only 
six years before, in the winter of 1 830-1, the town had 
been the scene of a political insurrection. The students 
took the lead of the democratic movement, disarmed the 
town-watch, set up their own patrols and sentinels, and 
had possession of the town for several weeks. The in- 
surrection was quelled only by the interference of an 
entire Hanoverian army-corps, under the command of 
General v. d. Busch. I cannot undertake, of course, to 
speak of the political history of Germany. I can only 
allude to it in a general way, where it happens to be con- 
nected with the universities. Whoever is familiar with 



1 64 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

the history of Germany in the years between the Resto- 
ration of 1815 and the Revolution of 1848-9, will know 
that the country was in a state of constant fermentation. 
The people, finding itself disappointed by the Metterni- 
chian policy in its hopes of political reform, betook 
itself to underhand agitation and conspiracy. The uni- 
versities, or rather the university students, as representa- 
tives of liberal, progressive ideas, were naturally foremost 
in this agitation. They were not the actual planners of 
the revolutions of 1831, 1833, 1846, and 1848, for the 
head-centre of the movement was in Paris. But German 
students were among the most conspicuous agitators and 
agents. I need only allude to such incidents as the 
murder of Kotzebue and the Wartburg Festival, and to a 
circumstance which is not generally known, at least not 
stated in published works, namely, that the Polish- 
Galician revolt of 1846-7 was managed by Polish stu- 
dents of the university of Breslau. I make this statement 
on the verbal authority of one of those students himself. 
The great year '48-'49 came and went like a whirlwind. 
Foremost in the cause of democratic ideas were the stu- 
dent legions of Berlin and Vienna. There is many a 
German, from Senator Schurz down, now residing among 
us as a quiet American citizen, who could tell a thrilling 
story of his hairbreadth 'scapes from bayonet and 
dungeon. The history of those days has not yet been 
written, but when it is written, the world will know more 
exactly what share in it belonged to the German students. 
Meanwhile I must content myself with saying that the 



THE AMERICAN COLONY— BIRTHDA YS. 165 

universities were not places for study alone, and that the 
students paid anything but exclusive devotion to books 
and lectures. Each university was a larger or smaller 
center of political agitation, and attracted to itself the 
disturbing, aggressive elements of society. The manners 
of the students in those days were boisterous, turbulent, 
defiant. The young men regarded themselves as the 
coryphaei of New Germany, and asserted their mission 
with all the recklessness of youth. The year '48-'49, I 
have said, came and went like a whirlwind. Apparently 
it wrought no change, it only confirmed the existing 
dynasties in the possession of their prerogatives. In 
reality, the country was revolutionized. Kings and 
princes, although theoretically absolute, found that the 
unquestioned divinity which once hedged about their 
kingship was gone, that there was such a thing as public 
opinion which could not be defied. The end had not 
yet come, but it had been prepared. Political agitation 
was still kept alive, but the scene for it was shifted. 
Instead of University Burschenschaften, conspirators, 
clubs, anonymous pamphlets, there was a press freed 
from censorship, and there were the several state diets. 
In the press and in the diet, then, the battle was to be 
fought. The universities ceased to be political centres 
and became once more, what they always should have 
been, mere seats of learning. When I came to Germany 
for the first time, in 1861, the change had been substanti- 
ally effected, although traces might still be detected now 
and then of the old feeling. I have mentioned else- 



l66 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

where the circumstance that Bismarck, then representing 
the Prussian squirarchy, was groaned by the students of 
Gottingen on his way to Berlin in 1864. Still these 
were mere trifles, they did not constitute a distinguishing 
element in student life. 

In making this digression, I have had in view a prac- 
tical object, namely to put the reader on his guard. 
Everything written about German university life before 
the year i860 must be taken cum grano salis, and a very 
liberal dose, at that. The manners and character of the 
students have, beyond all question, undergone a marked 
change. The student of the present day is not the stu- 
dent of 1830 or 1840 or even 1850, Retaining all his 
disdain for Philistia, and still regarding himself as a child 
of light, he no longer looks upon 'himself as an armed 
apostle of the new gospel and subject only to the 
martial law of his own invention. He feels more and 
more that he is but one and not the most important link 
in the great political nexus. He is soberer, toned down, 
disposed to look upon his university membership as a 
means of social and intellectual enjoyment rather than 
a stronghold for offense and defense. He drinks less, 
duels less, studies more, and intrigues not at all. I was 
impressed with the metamorphosis on revisiting Germany 
in 1872-3. Although then occupying a position which 
obliged me to study the press and political movements 
very closely for months, I never had occasion to note 
any political demonstrations on the part of students. I 
met many of them who had served in the campaign 



THE AMERICA N COL ON Y— BIR THDA YS. 167 

against France and had returned home to finish their 
studies. They had their opinions, and expressed them 
freely enough when invited to do so. But they certainly 
did not obtrude them, and seemed to hold rather aloof 
from domestic politics. The only topic of general 
interest was the relations of Germany to the rest of 
Europe, and here national pride and the flush of success 
made them as one man. 

The Kaffeconcerte — to return from this digression into 
politics and history — are as good an illustration as I can 
give of the great freedom of intercourse existing in Ger- 
many between professor and student. I say freedom 
of intercourse, rather than intimacy. There is no such 
thing in general as intimacy between students and pro- 
fessors, and there never will be. The reason is obvious ; 
personal intimacy implies equality of age and standing 
and congeniality of taste and character, things which do 
not exist as between old and young, the mature and the 
immature. So far as my observation extends, the rela- 
tion between student and professor is formal, ceremo- 
nious. In the majority of cases, the student does not 
come in personal contact with the teachers in his own 
department ; he merely salutes them in the street and in 
other public places. As to the professors in other 
departments, he does not even know them by sight. It 
is difficult to make this relation intelligible to the ordi- 
nary American collegian, who, I venture to say, regards 
his professor as one either to fight or to run away from. 
Perhaps the best way of making the case clear is to show 



l68 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES 



what the relation is not. In the first place, the student 
has not to look upon his lecturers as men whose daily- 
business is to gauge his weakness and keep an exact 
mathematical record of the same. In the next place, he 
knows that his lecturers have nothing to do with his 
general deportment, and are not even his judges. 
Finally, he knows that they are men who exact nothing 
from him but a decent observance of etiquette, and men 
from whom he can expect nothing in the way of protec- 
tion or favor. In consequence, the student experiences 
no temptation either to annoy his professor or to flunkey 
to him. He preserves a manly independence, while pay- 
ing to age and talent the proper tribute of respect. At 
Gottingen, where there was in my day but one tolerable 
billiard table, — the one in the Museum, — I have taken 
part in many a game of " pool " with the Privat-docenten, 
professors of the university, and teachers in the gymna- 
sium. No one seemed to think that there was anything 
out of the way in a full professor of mathematics and a 
Fuchs in the legal department trying to " kill " each 
other and laughing at each other's " scratches." In 
Leipsic, I have seen Zarncke, the leading professor 
of Germanistic philology and then (1872) rector of the 
university, drop in at the Universit its-Keller of an even- 
ing and sit down to a glass of Pilsener with a naivety 
that would have horrified our college trustees and facul- 
ties. As to such a university as Marburg, there was one 
Kneipe in particular where one might see, every evening 
in the week, a perfect medley of students, Frivat-docenten, 



THE AMERICAN COLONY —BIRTHDA YS. 169 

professors, and officers. I do not wish to be misunder- 
stood. Professors and Privat-docenten are anything but 
hard drinkers, or even regular frequenters of beer- 
saloons. They have too much to do, and lead a rather 
abstemious life. But this much at least I can say with 
safety, that they feel none of that false restraint which 
hangs over the American professor like a cloud and 
makes his life so isolated. No man in Germany hesitates 
as to the propriety of taking his supper and meeting his 
friends in a beer-saloon, for he knows that his coming 
and going will be looked upon as a matter of course. 

There are many conditions of things where it is diffi- 
cult to ascertain what is cause and what is effect. Do 
respectable people frequent public saloons in Germany 
because they are orderly, or are the saloons orderly 
because of the respectable people who frequent them.? 
I cannot take it upon myself to decide this delicate ques- 
tion. I can only state the broad fact, that what in 
America would be considered undignified, a sort of loss 
of caste, is in Germany an every-day affair. Men of the 
most eminent scholarly attainments, leading the most 
irreproachable lives, as jealous of their reputation as men 
well can be, not only attend beer concerts and other 
places of public amusement, but take their wives and 
daughters with them; they enjoy an hour or two of 
music, in the open air if possible, meet their friends and 
neighbors, and return to their homes refreshed by inno- 
cent recreation. Are the Germans so much better than 
we, or do we fear the devil so much that we cannot con- 



I70 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

front him boldly and banish him to the realms of outer 
darkness ? 

In addition to the Kaffeeconcerte^ the work of the win- 
ter of 1863-4 was enlivened by a number of private 
social gatherings among the Americans. Our colony 
numbered, I have said, ten. It was a curious phenome- 
non that no less than six of the ten had their birthdays 
to celebrate during the three months of December, Jan- 
uary, and February. It would be ungracious in me to 
insinuate that the calendar had been tampered with. 
When a countryman surprised me at my books, staying 
long enough to help himself to a fresh cigar, and state, in 
an off-hand way, that he would be glad to have the pleas- 
ure of my company the next Saturday night, at such a 
place, in honor of his birthday — " merely a few friends " — 
of course the only thing to do was to put on a smiling 
mien and make the best of it. But it was remarkable 
that a birthday should come around regularly every fort- 
night, to say nothing of the convenience of its always 
happening on a Saturday. 

Our birthday celebrations were an odd mixture of the 
German and the American. The eatables and drinkables 
were German, and we observed, in the main, the rules 
about Vortrinken and Nachtrinken, but the toasts and 
speech-making, and the general atmosphere of the enter- 
tainment, were intensely trans-Atlantic. The few Ger- 
mans who were invited had a good opportunity of 
becoming acquainted with the merits of such stirring 
ditties as " John Brown," " Rolling Home," and " Smith 



THE AMERICAN COLONY— BIR THDA YS. 171 

is a Jolly Good Fellow, Which Nobody can Deny." 

H , who was understood to be " cramming " for his 

degree in classic philology, was invariably called upon 
for the boat-song of the Argonautic Expedition. 

Further description is unnecessary. The reader can 
easily imagine what a party of the kind must be. 
Our birthday celebrations were no better and no worse 
than such affairs usually are. There was some sense 
talked, and a good deal of nonsense ; but there was no 
quarreling. We were friends, glad to meet one another 
and have a good time together. Our reunions broke up 
the dull monotony of work. As to the morality of wine- 
parties, especially among students, that is a question 
which the reader can settle for himself, bearing in mind 
the truism that Germany is not America. Out of the 
ten who composed our set, not one was intemperate at 
the time, or has since become so. Most of the ten are 
now married and occupying responsible positions in 
society. We all worked fairly at that time, and some 
worked very hard. Not one of us ever dreamed for an 
instant that he was committing an impropriety in knock- 
ing off work at the end of the week and kneiping with 
his 'associates. We learned to distinguish very clearly 
between a man who knows how to live, and a sot. It 
was not a difficult lesson. Every schoolboy in Germany 
learns it in Prima. 



CHAPTER XII. 

^^ Spurting." 

HAVING every reason to expect that the coming sum- 
mer semester would probably decide my chances 
as a candidate for the degree of Doctor Juris, I thought it 
advisable to prepare for it by taking a rest in the spring 
vacation. There was no necessity for revisiting Wies- 
baden, as my health throughout the winter had been 
unexceptionable. But feeling attached to the place, and 
confident that the bathing would at least do no harm, I 
took a second Cur of a fortnight. The spring of 1864 
was quite backward, and the weather, even on the Rhine, 
uncomfortably chilly. The season had not yet com- 
menced, and the number of guests was extremely small. 
As a matter of course, the place was langweilig, yet the 
change and the entire absence of excitement were prob- 
ably the best thing for me under the circumstances. 
After suffering myself to be bored unmercifully for a 
fortnight, I ran over to Heidelberg and from there down 
the Rhine as far as Coblenz, returning to Guttingen by 
the valley of the Lahn and Cassel. 

The last week of the vacation was passed in making 
preparations for the semestrial work. I decided to hear 
only two lectures, one on Ecclesiastical Law, by Herr- 



SPURTING. 173 



mann, and one on Erbrecht., by Francke. This latter 
subject I had heard in the winter, but as Schlesinger had 
not succeeded in making the subject clear to me, and as 
Francke, if I went into the examination, would be one 
of the chief examiners, I deemed it expedient to take 
the course over again. 

Subsequent events proved that I was right. Besides 
these lectures, I took a Pandecten-practicmn with Thol. 
This bears a strong resemblance to the Moot Courts in 
our Law Schools. Thol met his hearers once every week 
for two hours. At each meeting, a practical case was 
given out for discussion. Our opinions upon it were 
submitted, in writing, the next week, and returned to us, 
with the professor's criticisms, the third week. This 
returning did not consist in merely handing the papers 
back, like compositions with marginal corrections. After 
each member of the class had placed his paper before 
him, the professor took up the question and discussed it 
in all its bearings, stating what his own views were, show- 
ing what views had been presented by the members of 
the class, which of those views were correct, which in- 
correct, but not mentioning names. Each student could 
see for himself, however, where he had made a mistake. 
These verbal discussions — they were not arguments in 
our legal acceptation of the term — were very informal. 
The students were at liberty to interrupt the professor 
whenever they felt the need of fuller explanations. If 
any time remained after this exhaustive discussion of the 
question set for the day, the professor utilized it by sub- 



174 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

mitting one or more short cases to be analyzed on the 
spot. 

I give one of the set cases. It is a very easy one. A 
has a claim against B of $ioo; B against C of $120 ; C 
against D of $130; D against A of $140. Meeting by 
chance, they discover, in the course of conversation, that 
there is the sum of $100 mutually claimed and owed by 
all four. This they agree to cancel, leaving the balance 
of the claims to run. Some time after, C finds among 
the papers of his father, from whom the debt of $120 
devolved by inheritance, evidence that this debt had 
already been paid to B. What remedy has C, and what 
is the legal character of the agreement entered into by 
the four to cancel the common claim of ^100 .? 

These practical exercises are of great advantage to the 
students. They are, I believe, better than our Moot 
Courts. The questions submitted are generally of a 
higher order, and more complicated in their nature,* and 
— the main point — the exercises are better adapted to 
teaching the class. The necessity of writing out one's 
opinions at length every week and submitting them to 
the deliberate inspection of the professor, has the ten- 
dency to make one careful. Now and then a Moot Court 
case is well argued, but generally the so called arguments 
are too wordy and rhetorical. Besides, there is a great 
difference between speaking once in three months or six 

* The one given above is by no means a fair specimen, but the others con- 
tained in my Lecture Ms. are too long and presuppose too much knowl- 
edge of Roman law. 



SPURTING. T75 



months, and writing out an opinion once every week for 
an entire semester. 

The Pandecten-practicum covers only the substance of 
civil law. The more advanced students have practical 
exercises of a similar nature in Criminal Law, in Eccle- 
siastical Law, and in Procedure and Evidence. 

Francke's lectures on the Law of Inheritance were 
extremely clear and satisfactory. As the lecturer spoke 
slowly, there was no difficulty in taking him down ver- 
batim. The subject is complicated, so complicated, in 
fact, that I can not hope to give the reader even an out- 
line. I can only call attention to one or two cardinal 
points. The Roman Law has a much more philosophical 
conception of succession by inheritance than the English 
Law. It regards the personality of the deceased as in a 
measure continued after death, that is to say, all the 
property, whether real or personal, all claims held by, all 
debts due by the deceased, everything in short that does 
not perish with him, devolves as a unit upon one or more 
persons who represent him, who continue his existence, 
as it were. The heres succeeds to the defunct, is entitled 
to all his property, is under obligation to pay all his 
debts, heres defuncti locum sustinet. Our Common Law, 
hampered from the outset by the feudal distinction be- 
tween real and personal property, has never yet succeeded 
in elaborating a satisfactory theory of inheritance. The 
Roman Law, on the other hand, labored under a diffi- 
culty peculiar to itself. It was in the beginning 
extremely illiberal in doctrine and rigid in its forms. 



176 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

The Praetorian edicts effected gradually a thorough 
equitable reform, by admitting the claims of kinsmen 
who were not entitled under the old law of the XII 
Tables, by smoothing over mistakes in drawing up wills, 
and by checking as much as possible, in favor of lineal 
descendants, the privilege of disinheritance. The de- 
velopment of the Roman law of inheritance is, in fine, the 
history of a protracted struggle between the narrow- 
mindedness of the old hereditas and the equity of the 
Praetorian honor iiin possessio. The Praetor had no right 
to repeal or formally overthrow the old law, but what he 
was unable to accomplish directly, he did indirectly. 
Like the English Chancellor, the keeper of his Majesty's 
conscience, he could not say that such and such a claim- 
ant was not legally entitled, but he could in various ways 
prevent him from enforcing the claim. 

A most interesting course of lectures was that de- 
livered by Herrmann on Ecclesiastical Law. The 
lecturer's delivery was fluent, almost too fluent for those 
who wished to take complete notes, but his language was 
clear, and the substance of his remarks was, to me at 
least, intensely interesting. I can not but regret that no 
one of our law schools has seen fit to introduce such a 
topic in its curriculum. Surely, in view of the conflict 
between church and state now raging over Europe, it is 
of the highest importance that the lawyers and jurists of 
every land calling itself civilized should be acquainted 
with the principles involved in the issue. The primitive 
organization of the Christian Church, the growth of the 



SPURTING. 177 



hierarchy, the concentration of power first in the hands 
of the priests, then of the bishops, finally of the Pope, 
the Oriental Schism, the Reformation, the Declaration 
of Gallican Independence, Josephismus in Austria, 
the scope and functions of Concordates, the claims of 
the Church to the exclusive regulation of marriage and 
divorce, the provisions of the Council of Trent on this 
point, the Westphalian Treaty of Peace, are all subjects 
fraught with the deepest interest to every liberal thinker. 
Herrmann's lectures were to me a pleasure rather than a 
burden, while the notes then taken have since been of 
great service to me on more than one occasion, I am 
indebted to them for a very clear and comprehensive 
survey of the march of christian society during eighteen 
centuries. 

Gottingen being an exclusively Protestant university, 
nearly all the professors and students were in my day 
Protestant. Herrmann treated the subject of Ecclesi- 
astical Law, accordingly, from the Protestant point of 
view, but without becoming polemic. His exposition of 
the theory and doctrines of the Catholic Church, being 
based upon Catholic authorities, was eminently fair. 
Indeed, the object of the course was to acquaint the 
hearer with the facts of history and the actual shaping 
of principles and doctrines, rather than to defend or to 
controvert any one system. Herrmann now occupies the 
most important ecclesiastical position in Prussia, to wit, 
the presidency of the Upper Consistory in Berlin, 

Before leaving this subject, I may add that, although 



178 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

Prussia is nominally a Protestant country, a very large 
number, six or seven millions of its population, are 
Catholics. They are to be found chiefly in the Rhine 
provinces and in Polish Prussia. In organizing its 
system of education, the government has taken their 
wishes and needs into account, by constituting what are 
called paritetic universities, in addition to the Catholic 
gymnasiums. Bonn is one of these universities, Breslau 
another,* and Miinster is an exclusively Catholic 
academy, falling very little short of a university. In 
such paritetic institutions, all departments where there is 
conflict of religious opinion are supplied with double 
sets of professors. The Catholic professor of Ecclesi- 
astical Law at .Bonn was Walter, between whom and 
Richter, the Protestant professor in Berlin, there was un- - 
ceasing warfare. Both men being aggressive by nature, 
neither could let the other alone. It is entertaining to 
read their respective treatises and observe the numerous 
flat denials, corrections, and sneers that each hurls at the 
other. Schulte, probably an abler man than the other 
two, is less dogmatic and positive ; his text-book of Cath- 
olic Ecclesiastical Law is the best of the kind produced 
in modern times. 

The reader can perceive that two lectures a day, and 
an elaborate opinion in writing once a week, to say noth- 
ing of collateral reading, did not leave much unemployed 
time. But the most searching part of the semestrial work 
has yet to be mentioned. Dr. Maxen succeeded in 

♦ Tubingen is also paritetic, althougli not a Prussian university. 



SPURTING. 179 



forming his Repetitorium, or Exegeticum, as he called it.* 
The three members beside myself were students in their 
sixth semester, preparing for the State examination at 
Celle in the fall. We met six times a week, at the doc- 
tor's rooms, from twelve to one o'clock. The exercise 
was what medical students call a " quiz, " and did ample 
justice to the name. We students naturally thought that 
we knew at least some law, but one or two quizzes were 
sufficient to convince us that we knew nothing. The doc- 
tor's method was, in appearance, as immethodical as one 
could imagine. We never knew before the hour what 
topic he might take up, and consequently were unable to 
prepare ourselves. This seemed to me unsatisfactory, 
and I ventured to say as much to the doctor, in private. 
At this he only laughed, and replied : " That is precisely 
what I aim at doing, to make you dissatisfied. If I gave 
you ten or twenty pages of Vangerow or Arndts to 
recite upon, you would get the work by heart, I dare say, 
and forget it again in a week. But if I catch you to-day 
on some point that has never occurred to you, you will 
feel vexed at yourself, and when you return to your 
room you will look it up carefully, and then you will not 
forget it. My business is not to discover what you know, 
but what you do not know, and the best way of doing that 
is to keep changing the subject unexpectedly. I wish to 
catch you unprepared, for then I shall certainly detect 



♦ It was in reality a course of private lessons. Each one's share of the 
expense, as well as I can remember, amounted to thirty or thirty-five cents an 
hour. 



l8o GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

the defects in your reading. Besides, is it not the best 
preparation for the examination ? What you need is not 
only the knowledge of facts and principles, but the 
ability to answer all sorts of questions that may be 
sprung upon you. Relieve your mind by considering 
that every hour spent with me is an informal examina- 
tion, and not a recitation, and be assured that you are not 
the first set of young men that I have had in training." 

Notwithstanding the doctor's assurances, and the firm 
confidence that I had in his ability and sincerity, I felt 
many misgivings for the first month or two. It seemed 
as though we were making no progress, as though our 
modest but hard-bought attainments were a sort of ten- 
pins, set up only to be knocked down again. Perhaps 
the reader has taken boxing lessons himself, or at least 
has seen one or more of them. In that case, he will be 
able to appreciate the simile, when I liken myself and my 
three fellow-victims to pupils in the manly art of self- 
defense being "punished" mercilessly by the master. 
Mr. Bristed, in his book on Cambridge, p. 193 sqq. (ed. 
of 1873), has given a very racy account of the way in 
which " coaching " is conducted in an English univer- 
sity. I regret extremely my inability to sketch a like 
tableau of our quiz in the Georgia Augusta. Dr. Maxen 
" slanged " us plentifully, in the technical sense of that 
term ; that is, he did not smooth over our ignorance with 
lavender-water, but made us feel it keenly. Yet his 
method differed radically from that followed by Mr. 
Bristed's coach, Travis, and, furthermore, the subjects 



SPURTING. l8l 



themselves, the Supplices of yEschylus and the body of 
the Roman Law, can scarcely be treated after the same 
fashion. Mr. Bristed's coaching is a mere recitation, that 
is, a literal translation, with running commentary, of a 
given passage in the Supplices^ reproduced, I presume, 
from notes taken at the time. The reader, even if not a 
classical scholar, can at least follow the recitation line 
by line. With regard to our quiz, on the other hand, I 
must remark, in the first place, that the subject is so 
foreign to the reader that, in order to make a description 
barely intelligible, I should be forced to give about six 
pages of prefatory explanation to one of description, and, 
in the next place, that the quiz was an examination, not 
a recitation, the subject being changed abruptly every 
few minutes. My note-book is filled with names and 
dates, detached fragments of law, references to authori- 
ties, queries to be pursued at leisure, and the like, but it 
contains nothing that would give the reader a satisfac- 
tory idea of how the work was done. 

At all events, there was the satisfaction of perceiving 
that my three co-workers were not much better off than 
myself. They knew more law, but they did not have 
their knowledge in a more available shape. Practically, 
we were on an equality. The real benefit of the quiz 
came after the hour. Having the afternoons and even- 
ings to myself, I spent the time in reviewing, with the 
utmost care, what the doctor had run over hastily in the 
forenoon. Still smarting under the lash of criticism, to 
speak figuratively, and having some definite object of 
i6 



GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 



search, I ransacked Puchta, Arndts, Goeschen, Vangerow, 
and my notes, for everything that might throw addi- 
tional light on the topics that were started by the doctor 
from day to day. I made no attempt to prepare for the 
doctor in advance. There was enough to do to follow 
up his hints as fast as they were given. After pursuing 
this method for two months, the conviction finally 
dawned upon me that the doctor was correct. The quiz 
was not only a powerful stimulant, but it gave some 
object to my private reading. Instead of droning over 
one book at a time, page after page and chapter after 
chapter in consecutive order, I was forced to go through 
each book every day, from cover tp cover, in search of 
examples, definitions, exceptions, authorities, whatever, 
in short, might aid me in understanding more clearly 
half a dozen points raised but not exhausted in the 
quiz. 

By the end of the semester I made a further discovery. 
Dr. Maxen's plan, seemingly immethodical, was in truth 
the highest kind of method. Running over my note- 
book, I could see that the doctor had covered the law of 
obligations, at least in its general principles, almost 
entire, and had taken in a large share of the law of real 
property and family relations, and not a little of the law 
of inheritance. While zigzagging to right and left in a 
manner that gave no indication from one day to the next 
of a deep-laid plan, the doctor had succeeded neverthe- 
less in starting us on all the more important subjects. 
One object he had certainly realized : he had taught us 



SPURTING. 183 



how to study. When the last quizz was ended, and we 
broke up as a class, I felt that I had been shifted to an 
altogether new stand-point, that success in the examina- 
tion would probably resolve itself into a matter of time 
and endurance. 

I have stated, on a previous occasion, that the relation 
between student and professor is generally formal, savor- 
ing little of intimacy. There are brilliant exceptions, 
however, and it was my good fortune to profit directly by 
one of these exceptional cases. About the middle of 
July, Dr. Maxen said to me : " It is time that you should 
call on Ribbentropp and confer with him on the subject 
of your examination. He is not the Dean of the faculty, 
but he is the oldest and most influential member. You 
must make him interested in you. There is no need of a 
letter of introduction ; you will find him very charming 
and affable." 

The Geheimjustizrath v. Ribbentropp occupied a 
most enviable position. He had made his reputation as 
a jurist while still a young man, by his treatise on the 
law of Correal Obligations. Coming into the possession 
of a handsome property by inheritance, in addition to 
his salary as professor, he was able to live in what, for 
Gottingen, was decidedly style. He occupied a large 
house by himself, something very unusual in a German 
university town ; the parlors and dining-room were on 
the second floor, his study and private apartments on the 
third. Over the ground-floor the housekeeper reigned 
supreme. Gossip had it that the housekeeper was the 



GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 



only person in the town who disturbed the mental quiet 
{Gemuthsru/ie) of the Geheimjustizrath. Not that she 
was vinegar-aspected or harsh of manner ; but, like all 
spinsters of a certain age, she had come to regard men 
in general, and old bachelors in particular, as helpless 
beings, whom it was never safe to trust too long or too 
far out of sight. The object of this anxious supervision 
often made a jest of it to his friends. 

Summoning up courage, I called upon the Geheim- 
justizrath one evening, and running successfully the 
gauntlet of the housekeeper and under-servant, obtained 
admission to the sanctum sanctorum, the library. I 
found a gentleman not over sixty, as well as I could make 
out, of decidedly disti/igue bearing, rather short in 
stature, but with a superbly shaped head, a winniiig 
smile, and the most fascinating pair of eyes that I have 
ever encountered. Whether perfectly black, or only of a 
very dark brown, I am unable to state from memory ; but 
the play of lambent light emitted from them, joined to 
the witchery of a humorous smile around the corners of 
the mouth, gave to the massive forehead and classic 
features a grace and an animation that were irresistible. 
I perceived, at the very first glance, that I was dealing 
with one of nature's noblemen. Speaking frankly, I fell 
quite in love with the elderly gentleman who received 
me with such an uncommon blending of French 
suavity and German simplicity. It was the gracious 
commencement of an acquaintance that — to me cer- 
tainly — was to be fraught with benefit and pleasure. 



SPURTING. 185 



I stated as briefly as possible the object of my visit, 
mentioned the lectures I had already heard or was then 
hearing, the text-books I was using, the amount of private 
reading already accomplished, the private instruction 
received from Dr. Maxen. I said that I was perfectly 
aware of the incompleteness and hurried nature of my 
course of study as a jurist, but that it would be impossi- 
ble to remain in Germany beyond the coming Christmas, 
and that I was anxious to take back with me to America 
tangible evidence of my industry in the shape of a 
degree. Would he have the kindness to give me his 
opinion frankly as to my chances of being admitted to 
examination, and advise me generally as a friend .'' 

He listened patiently, with the same bright, flashing 
look of the eye, and the same good-natured smile. 
" Stop a moment," he said, " don't you smoke .'* " I hesi- 
tated. I was a smoker, but then it did not seem to be 
exactly " the thing " to be puffing at such a solemn 
audience in the sanctum of a Gcheimjustizrath. " Ah ! " 
he continued, " you hesitate. I know you smoke, but 
you don't like to say so. Wait a moment." So the great 
jurist frisked into the adjoining room with the alacrity of 
a boy let loose from school, and returned, presenting a 
box of unimpeachable Havanas. " There," he exclaimed, 
" now we can talk up this matter of yours at our 
leisure." 

Under ordinary circumstances, the offering of a cigar 
means very little. But when you call upon a great man 
for the first time, without any other recommendation than 



1 86 GERMAN UNIVEKSiriES. 

yourself and your own story, and he insists upon your 
smoking one of his best cigars, you may safely take for 
granted that he is kindly disposed toward you. 

My visit was protracted until a late hour. The 
Geheimjustizrath had a great many questions to ask me, 
but they were about everything else than jurisprudence. 
He wished to know what I had seen of Switzerland and 
Germany ; what I thought of the war in my own country 
(then approaching the crisis) ; how I liked Germany as 
compared with America. In fine, I passed a most 
delightful evening in easy conversation. I was treated, 
not as a student, scarcely even as a very young man, but 
as a welcome guest, or as one who had presented strong 
letters of recommendation. I did not elicit any definite 
expression of opinion as to my chances of a degree. In 
truth, that was not what I expected. I knew enough of 
the ways of the world to refrain from urging the matter 
to an immediate decision, and to be satisfied, and more 
than satisfied, with having created a favorable impression 
and excited the interest of the most influential member 
of the Examining Faculty. On my taking leave, the 
Geheimjustizrath said : " Herr Hart, you must come and 
see me often, once a week. Come to tea, and then we 
can have the entire evening to ourselves. Just consider 
that as part of your legal education. I must become well 
acquainted with you."* 



* It may surprise the reader to learn that I waited so long before making the 
acquaintance of the Geheimjustizrath^ and that I heard none of his lectures. 
The latter circumstance is easily accounted for. Ribbentropp read the Insti- 
tutes and Rechtieeschichte in the winter, and Pandects in the summer. My first 



SPURTING. 187 



On relating my experience to Dr. Maxen, the next day, 
he said, in his blunt, off-hand fashion : " Well, I think 
you will do. Keep on as you have begun." 

I obeyed the Gehei mjustizratJi s friendly injunction to 
the letter. Scarcely a week passed without my dropping 
in to tea in an informal way. I always found the same 
hearty, unaffected welcome, and the same animated flow 
of conversation. The host was not merely a profound 
jurist, but thoroughly versed in the classics, and in the 
literature of his own country, and an amateur in art. 
His collection of engravings was not large, but it was 
very choice. I cannot better illustrate his genial charac- 
ter and his thorough, unselfish appreciation of the best 
efforts of human genius in every line, than by narrating 
the following incident. One evening the conversation 
happened to turn upon Goethe. I believe that I intro- 
duced the subject by alluding to the great number of 
poets who had begun their career as students of the law. 
"y^, yV?," said the Geheimjustizrath^ ''''Goethe^ das war 
ein ganzer Kerl ! You know, of course," he continued, 
with a most mischievous twinkle in his eye, " you know, 
of course, his stupendous lines in Faust on the study of 



summer as a student of law was passed at Berlin, where I heard the Institutes 
from Gneist. On returning to GSttingen for the winter, I was ready to take 
up the Pandects, which were read in winter by Mommsen, not by Ribben- 
tropp. As for the acquaintance, it was none the worse, but probably all the 
better, for the delay. Professors are not apt to interest themselves in Fuchse. 
It is too much of a bore to have to deal with a mere beginner, one who is not 
yet out of the rudiments The circumstance that a student may pass nearly 
two semesters before making the acquaintance, or even recognizing by sight, 
the most prominent professor of his own faculty, throws a strong side-light on 
the character of German university life. 



l88 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

law." I had read the Faust, as already stated, very care- 
fully in my second semester. But what with Pandects 
and Erbrecht.) Practica and Exegetica the muses had been 
strictly banished from my thoughts for many a month. 
I had become a stranger to everything that could not be 
demonstrated logically from the corpus juris, and was 
forced to plead forgetfulness as to the passage in ques- 
tion. " What," exclaimed my host, " you don't mean to 
say that you, a studiosiis juris, have forgotten the very 
best thing ever said by mortal man on the science of 
law "i Really, I must give it to you on the spot. Take 
it to heart." Thereupon, assuming somewhat the pose 
of an actor on the stage, but not rising from his seat, he 
declaimed, from memory, in a rich, sonorous voice, and 
with the most expressive emphasis, the magnificent lines : 

Es erben sick Geseiz' and Rechte 

Wie ei7ie eiu'ge Krankheit _fort^ 

Si'e schlejypen von Gesckleckt sich zum Gesckleckte, 

Und r'licken sacht von Ort zu Ort. 

Vermm/t wird Unsinn^ Wohltkat Plage^ 

Well Dir^ dass Dti ein Enkel hist I 

Vom Rechte^ das 6ei uns geboren ist. 

Von Detn — ist leider nie die Frage ! * 

* I am unable either to make a metrical rendering of the passage, or to quote 
one. Bayard Taylor's translation of the Faust, so admirable in the main, 
breaks down signally in this very passage. Put into tame prose, the lines 
run : 

Our laws and legal systems do transmit themselves 

Like an inherited disease ; 

They drag themselves along from race to race, 

And softly crawl from land to land. 

What once was sense is turned to nonsense, the boon becomes a torment. 

Alas for thee, that thou'rt a grandchild ! 

The right that's born with us. 

Of that — good lack — we never hear the mention. 

The reader must bear in mind that the speaker is Mephistopheles, who, 
wrapped in Faust's mantle and seated in his chair, proceeds to give the young 
student advice as to his studies, and the respective merits of the diflferent 
faculties. 



SPURTING. 189 



" Now, just see how the great poet has hit the thing 
off. What venom there is in every line, in every word ! 
And how the cHmax is reached in the line : Weh Dir, 
dass Du ein Efikel bist ! Ha, ha ! Not only has a man 
to bear the consequences of all the foolish legislation and 
stupid decisions of his own day and generation, but he 
is crushed with the accumulated burden of his father's 
and his grandfather's asininity. Isn't it sublime ? /a,ja, 
dir Goethe^ das war ein verzweifelt schlauer Kerl, er 
wusste, was er sagen wollte. 

Looking back upon this phase of my Gottingen life 
through the vista of a decennium, I am impressed more 
strongly than ever with its uniqueness and its appo- 
siteness. It was the one bright side of my then daily 
round of dull work. The sociable set of Americans of 
the previous winter had broken up. Many had 
removed to other universities ; only a few were left, and 
a spell seemed to have come over both them and myself. 
We met occasionally, but the old spirit of friendly inter- 
course was suppressed for the while by more urgent 
needs. The hebdomadal visits at "the Geheimjusttzrath's 
were almost my sole diversion for months. The relation- 
ship, if I may venture to call" so simple a thing by so 
ponderous a name, was something for which an Americam 
college can furnish no analogy. The nearest approach 
to it is to be found in our schools of science. I have no 
personal knowledge of the Sheffield Scientific, but from 
what has been told to me by graduates, I infer that a 
certain degree of freedom exists there between the 



IQO GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 



instructors and the pupils. Herein probably lies the 
secret of success, of the rapid growth of scientific schools 
as distinguished from colleges. The teachers, at least 
very many of them, have been trained under the German 
system, and have caught its tone. They work more with 
the students, and seek to guide and stimulate them, 
rather than to play the pedagogue. Yet there is this dif- 
ference, I believe, between the Sheffield Scientific, taken 
even at its most favorable estimate, and my Gbttingen 
experience. The intercourse between professor and stu- 
dent at the Sheffield Scientific is, although free, not what 
can be strictly called social, but is confined to what the 
Cantabs and Oxonians call " shop." This was not the 
case in my tea-drinkings at the Geheimj ustizrath'' i . The 
conversation rarely turned upon legal matters, and then 
only incidentally. On one occasion, it is true, I was sub- 
jected to an impromptu and rather humorously conducted 
examination. But the great bulk of our conversation 
was made up of general matters, art, literature, science, 
and especially national peculiarities. My host never grew 
weary of listening to all that I could tell him about my 
own country. He was possessed of an insatiable curi- 
osity to know how Americans lived and fared ; what kind 
of houses they had ; what views they took of life ; how 
they passed their leisure hours. Like most educated 
Germans who have never traveled in America, he was 
accurately posted on certain minor details of American 
life, but failed to seize its essential spirit, to comprehend 
the broad sweep of its movement. The recklessness and 



SPURTING. 191 



turbulence, the aggressiveness of the American charac- 
ter, evidently impressed him more than its acuteness and 
its capacity of quiet endurance. I cannot flatter myself 
with the belief that I made a convert. From one posi- 
tion the Geheimjustizrath was not to be dislodged. He 
wound up all our discussions with the triumphant asser- 
tion : " Yes, that is all very well. You Americans do 
great things, but then you have no Bildiing. You have 
gebildete Leute in the larger cities, especially men who 
have been in Europe and profited by what they have 
seen and heard here. But in the country at large you 
have no Bildung of your own." The reader may judge 
for himself whether the assertion was well founded.* 



* After revising the above for the press, I read, in the supplement to the 
Universit'dts Kalender for the summer semester of 1874, the sad announce- 
ment : 11. RiBBENTROPP ist am 14 April gestorben. The event was not unex- 
pected, the deceased having passed the scriptural term of three score and ten. 
Yet it must have been sudden, as the body of the Kalender announced his 
lectures for the then approaching semester. Von Ribbentropp's cherished 
wish was gratified : he died in the harness. His associates, who knew him so 
long and loved him so well, though scarcely better than I did, must write his 
eulogy. But they will not grudge me the minor consolation of laying upon 
his tomb a chaplet of wild flowers culled on American soil: 

" Happy their end 
Who vanish down life's evening stream 
Placid as swans that drift in dream 

Round the next river-bend ! 
Happy long life, with honor at the close ! " 

Three of my examiners have passed away : Kraut, Francke and Ribben- 
tropp. 



B 



CHAPTER XIII. 

The Final Agony of Preparation. 
ETWEEN the middle and the end of the summer 



semester, I made my formal application to the dean 
of the legal faculty to be admitted to examination for the 
degree of Doctor Juris. The paper, or document, con- 
sisted of a concisely worded but full statement of the 
place and time of birth, and the schools and other insti- 
tutions that I had attended in America, and a more 
detailed account of my studies in Germany. I gave the 
titles of all the lectures I had heard, all the text-books 
on law that I had read or was then reading, all the prac- 
tical exercises that I had attended. Nothing was omitted 
that could help in putting my studies in the proper light. 
This curriculum vitae, as it is styled, concluded with a 
brief petition. Accompanying it was my Anmeldungsbuch, 
duly signed and certified by the professors with whom I 
had heard. 

The semester drew to an end, but the question whether 
I should be permitted to enter myself for the doctoral 
examination in the fall was not yet settled. The state 
of affairs was briefly this. At Gottingen — and I pre- 
sume the same arrangement exists in the other universi- 
ties — the conferment of degrees is in the hands of a 
limited number of the regular faculty in each department. 



THE FINAL AGONY OF PREPARA TION. 193 

This select body, called the Honoren-facultcit, comprised, 
in the law faculty, five men : Kraut (then dean), Rib- 
bentropp, Francke, Zachariae, and Briegleb. Ordinarily, 
the application for an examination is granted as of course. 
My petition, however, was a special one, involving special 
concessions. In the first place, I had not studied law 
the ordinary number (six) of semesters. In the next 
place, I desired to be examined only in Roman, Canon- 
ical, and Criminal Law, with the exclusion of Practice 
and German Law. The faculty of honors in law at Got- 
tingen was governed at that time by strict principles, and 
was not disposed to make any concessions that looked 
like lowering the standard of scholarship. Ribbentropp, 
I knew, was in favor of granting my request, and so was 
the dean. Kraut. With regard to Zachariae, I was not at 
all certain. The remaining two, Briegleb and Francke, 
were set against me. The latter, indeed, told me as 
much, saying very frankly that he did not believe that I 
had studied long enough and knew enough. No final 
vote was taken during the semester, I was " kept on the 
hooks," as the saying goes, until I felt tempted to give over 
the effort altogether and return home without further 
delay. I made a last visit upon the dean just at the close 
of the semester, but did not succeed in eliciting a deci- 
sive answer. This was Friday or Saturday. Monday 
morning, as I was idling over my books and papers in a 
rather listless, because hopeless, frame of mind, I heard 
a heavy tramp down the passage-way leading to my 
room. The steps came nearer and nearer, there was a 
17 



194 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

sharp, authoritative knock at my door. I answered, 
Herein, and one of the university beadles entered. 
Touching his cap with a half-miHtary salute, he said : 
" Empfehlung von Hcrrn Ho/rath Kraut, und er schickt 
Ihnen dieses, Hofrath Kraut sends you his compliments, 
and this" handing me a slip of paper. On it was writ- 
ten in curt, cabbalistic characters : 

Cap. Non est vobis (ii) X de sponsal. (4, l). 
/. Dedi 16 D. de condict. causa dat. (12, 4). 

Nothing more. Not a word of explanation ; not even 
a signature. But it was enough. I knew that it was 
the summons, the token that my request for examination 
was granted. The paper contained the references to two 
passages, one from the corpus juris civilis, the other from 
the corpus juris canonici, upon which passages I was to 
prepare and hand in elaborate dissertations. Should 
these dissertations prove satisfactory, I must be admitted 
to the oral examination ; if unsatisfactory, I was barred 
from applying again for a semester or two. 

The reader will easily appreciate the jeverent fondness 
with which I gazed upon this scrap of paper, unintelligi- 
ble save to the initiated. It was the glad announcement 
that I should have at least a trial, and not be turned away 
unheard. Wishing to break the good news to myself as 
gently as possible, I spent the rest of the forenoon over 
t-he billiard-table, and as it never rains but it pours, I 
had an uncommon run of good luck, that quite upset Prof. 

L and Dr. S . The afternoon I passed, in part, 

with Dr. Maxen, in conference as to the best way of 



THE FINAL AGONY OF PREPARATION. 195 

taking up the dissertations, and the authorities to be con- 
sulted. What puzzled me at the time was to account for 
the sudden change since Friday. I learned afterward 
that the faculty met on Saturday to take a formal vote. 
The voting stood two against two, Zachariae being absent 
in the country. At Ribbentropp's request, Kraut wrote 
to him and left the decision in his hands. He imme- 
diately telegraphed his reply in my favor. 

The time set for handing in the dissertations was Octo- 
ber 15 th. But on this point the greatest liberality is 
shown to candidates. Practically, they can take all the 
time they wish, and even after the day for examination 
has been fixed, it can be postponed for good reasons 
shown. The faculty will not interfere unless they are 
induced to suspect that the candidate is trifling. My own 
case is in proof. I was not examined until the 20th of 
November. 

In order to simplify matters, I decided to dispose of 
the dissertations first, before subjecting myself to the 
" cramming " process for the oral. I spent an hour or 
two a day in making ready for the " cram," after a pecu- 
liar fashion. The reader who has had the patience to 
follow the account of my lectures and collateral study 
will admit that the ground covered was extensive. In 
notes alone there were nearly 1,800 closely written man- 
uscript pages, excluding Schlesinger's lectures on Erb- 
recht. So far as the Pandects were concerned, I saw that 
any attempt at memorizing them in mass would be use- 
less. The field was too large, and there were too many 



196 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

details. I should have to trust to a clear understanding 
of definitions and general principles, and — to luck. But 
the other subjects, namely. Criminal Law, Erbrecht., and 
Ecclesiastical Law, I could and should have, so far at 
least as concerned the lectures that I had heard upon 
them, at my tongue's end. Accordingly I reduced them 
(250 pages each) to the smallest and most manageable 
shape, by re-writing. Not omitting a single point, but 
using all sorts of abbreviations, catch-words, and other 
mnemonic helps, I cut them down to a third or a fourth 
of their original bulk. To make sure of the historical 
growth of the Roman Law, I also abbreviated the more 
important and difficult sections in Puchta, such as Family 
Rights, Erbrecht, Rights of Persons, Procedure. Working 
regularly for an hour or two a day, I succeeded, in four 
or five weeks, in completing this preparation for " cram." 
It was not difficult, and it served as an excellent prelim- 
inary review. 

As to the dissertations, I began with the passage from 
the corpus Juris civilis, as being the more important of 
the two. The text runs thus : 

Celsus (the name of the jurist from whose writings 
the extract has been excerpted). E>edi tibi pecuniatn, ut 
mihi Stichum (the conventional name for a slave) dares ; 
utrum id contractus genus pro portionc emtionis et venditionis 
est., an nulla hie alia obligatio est, quam ob rem dati re fion 
secuta ? In quod procUvior sum ; et ideo, si mortuus est 
Stichus, repete re possum, quod ideo tibi dcdi, ut mihi Stichum 
dares. 



THE FIN A L AGONY OF PREP A RA TION. 1 9 7 

The examiners had assigned to me — whether in a spirit 
of kindness or unkindness, I could not divine — one of 
the most bristHng vexatae quaestiones of the Roman Law. 
I fear that I cannot make the case itself intelligible to 
the reader, even should he be a proficient in the English 
Common Law, much less furnish him with all the mate- 
rials for forming a proper judgment. Roughly translated, 
for our language is scarcely adequate to rendering the 
concise and technical forms of law Latin, the passage 
might read after this fashion : " I have given you money 
to the end that you should give me in return your slave 
Stichus; question, is this in a part a contract of sale, or 
is it nothing but an obligation ob rem dati re non secuta ? 
To which latter opinion I am inclined, so far that if 
Stichus has died (or is dead), I can recover the money, 
inasmuch as I gave it to you that you should give me 
Stichus in return." 

The sense of the passage turns on the word " give," 
the Latin dare. In the Roman Law, the three words, 
dare, /acere, praestari, have technical meanings. Dare 
denotes the transfer of full property, the dominium ex jure 
Quirititim, as distinguished from mere putting in posses- 
sion. If the one who transfers is not himself full and 
lawful owner, or if the forms prescribed by the old 
Roman Law are not strictly observed, the transfer cannot 
be called, in the Roman sense of the term, a " giving." 
It is only a traditio. Now the contract of sale, accord- 
ing to Roman notions, never aims at a " giving." The 
vendor does not promise to make the vendee the owner ; 



GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 



the vendee does not bargain for the ownership. The 
cardinal feature of the Roman contractus etniionis vendi- 
tionis is simply this, that the vendor agrees to put the 
vendee in possession and keep him in possession against 
all comers, ut re7n sibi habere liceat. So long as the ven- 
dee is undisturbed in his possession, he has no right of 
action against the vendor on the ground of defective 
title. This Roman contract of sale, then, is at once 
broader and yet more limited in its nature than that of 
our Common Law, and is governed by its own peculiar 
rules. Consequently, the jurist Celsus, after looking at 
the case submitted to him for an opinion, says to himself: 
" Can this be a sale, when I agree to * give ' some one 
money, and he agrees to 'give' me in turn his slave.? 
No. It belongs to an altogether different and much 
more strictly construed class of contracts, and the rules 
applicable to an ordinary sale are not binding here." 

The distinction is of importance. In the Roman con- 
tractus efntionis, the periculum, i. e., the risk of loss or 
deterioration of the thing sold, passes from the vendor to 
the vendee from the moment that the contract becomes 
perfect. In a contract of sale made without conditions, 
this moment coincides with the mutual declaration of 
agreement on the part of vendor and vendee. A and 
B agree to buy and sell respectively a certain object. 
From that moment the periculum rests with the vendee. 
If the object is lost without the fault of the vendor, or if 
it deteriorates in value, the vendee must bear the 
damage. 



THE FINAL AGONY OF PREPARATION. 199 

This rule of the Roman contract of sale evidently does 
not apply to our case. Celsus says expressly that the 
one who has " given " the money to the end that 
the receiver shall " give " in turn his slave, has a right to 
reclaim the money in case of the slave's death. The 
contract is not a sale, but what the Roman jurists called 
a contractus innominatiis. A contract of this nature does 
not become perfect, /. e.^ does not furnish a ground of 
action, with the mere declaration of mutual consent, but 
only with the fulfillment on one side. In other words, if 
B offers A one hundred dollars for a horse, and A 
accepts, from that moment the bargain is perfect. But 
if A and B merely agree to exchange horses (another 
form of contractus innoininati/s), the bargain remains 
imperfect, and becomes perfect only when A or B has 
taken the other's horse, so that the one who has parted 
with the possession has a right of action to compel the 
recipient to fulfill, in turn, his share of the agreement. 

Yet, even assuming that the contract in our case is a 
contractus innominatus, as distinguished from a regulai 
sale, the question still remains : Why does Celsus give 
such a decision } Is not the transaction, even as such a 
nameless contract, perfect, in the legal sense of the term } 
One party has "given," /. e., has fulfilled his part of the 
agreement, consequently there is no further withdrawal. 
Both parties must abide by the result. If the slave dies, 
the loss {periculum) falls upon the would-be purchaser, 
not the late owner, provided there has been no neglect 
or foul play. The difficulty of explaining the decision 



GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 



rendered by Celsus is augmented by the circumstance 
that the corpus juris contains two other decisions, which 
are apparently in direct opposition to Celsus, namely : 
1. 5 § I D. de praescr. verbis (19, 5). 

Paulus (another jurist). " Si scyphos tibi dedi, ut 
Stichum miJii dares, periculo mild Stichus erit, ac tu dun- 
taxat culpam praestari debes, if I have ' given ' you some 
drinking goblets to the end that you shall ' give ' me in 
exchange your slave Stichus, then Stichus will be at my 
risk, and you will be liable only for laches." The other 
passage is : 1. 10 C. de cond. ob caus. dat. (4, 6). 

DioCL. ET Maxim, (the Roman emperors). " Pecuiuam 
a te datum, licet causa pro qua data est, no/i culpa accip- 
ientis, scd fortuito casu ?ion est sccuta, miuivie repeti posse 
certum est. Where money has been ' given ' for an object 
{causa^ which — not through the fault of the receiver of 
the money, but by pure chance — has not been realized, 
it is certain that the money cannot be reclaimed." 

I have endeavored to state as clearly as possible this 
vexed question, over which the ablest intellects have 
quarreled, from the glossator Azo in the twelfth century 
to authorities of the present day, such as Wachter and 
Vangerow. There was no lack of materials, then, from 
which to construct an essay. The only difficulty was to 
arrive at something Hke a clear opinion amid the tangled 
maze of argument and counter-argument. I found a 
condensed list of works of reference in Vangerow's text- 
book on the Pandects. This was enough for the start. 
My first " raid " upon the University library brought in 



THE FINAL AGONY OF PREPARATION. 201 

about eight or ten works. By glancing over these, I 
found still further references. In this way I continued to 
add to my dissertation-library, until it amounted to forty 
or fifty volumes, big and little. What with my own pri- 
vate library, not very small, my quarters were overrun 
with books, superb glossated Leyden editions of the 
corpus juris, musty old tomes of the Dutch and French 
school, elaborate German treatises, volumes of law 
reviews, and monographs. It seemed at one time as if 
I were to be crushed under the mass of jurisprudence. 
I had much ado to find elbow-room. But this was a 
trifle in comparison with the bore of going through hun- 
dreds of pages, only to be no wiser than before. ) The 
more I read, the less apparently I knew^ After three or 
four weeks of such disagreeable drudgery, I reached one 
conclusion, satisfactory to me at least. No two writers 
on the subject held the same opinion. Consequently, 
where doctors disagreed so flagrantly, a would-be doctor 
must have the right to think and write pretty much what 
he pleased. If the knot could not be untied, at all 
events it could be cut. Rejecting other works of refer- 
ence as irrelevant and confused, I settled upon two or 
three, that had the merit of being clear and to the point, 
namely, two dissertations by Wachter (one in the Civil- 
Archiv, vol. xxxiv, the other a separate monograph, with 
the title, doctr. de cond. causa data c. ?i. j'.), Erxleben's 
elaborate work on the condiciiones, and Vangerow's Pan- 
dects, vol. iii, p. 228-242. I then endeavored to con- 
struct a plausible theory, by patching together Erxleben 



GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 



and Wachter (who is followed by Vangerow). I assumed 
that there was a contradiction, an antinomy, between 
Celsus and Paulus. The former, who lived in the times 
of Domitian, Nerva, and Hadrian, represented the older 
stage of the law, before the theory of the " nameless con- 
tracts " had been fully developed ; whereas Paulus, who 
lived in the times of Septimius Severus and Alexander 
(and with Paulus, the emperors Diocletian and Maxi- 
mus), looked upon such " nameless contracts " as analo- 
gous to the regular ones, namely, sale, hiring, loan, and 
the like. From the point of view of Celsus, the " name- 
less " contracts were scarcely contracts at all. There 
remained one point still unsettled. Assuming that Celsus 
and Paulus represented, then, successive stages in the 
development of the law, how did it happen that Jus- 
tinian's Commission, who were appointed to prepare a 
digest of the law actually in force in the sixth century, 
i. e., much later still, could commit the blunder of incor- 
porating in their work two such conflicting views. In 
Justinian's time the old forms of mancipatio and /// jure 
cessio had disappeared ; there was no longer any distinc- 
tion between res mancipi and res nee fnaneipi ; the dis- 
tinction between a contract of sale and a contract of 
exchange (with or without transfer of full ownership, 
dominiuni) was reduced to a minimum. On this point I 
followed the interpretation of Beloius, Wachter, and Van^ 
gerow, who take the phrase si mortuus est Stichus to 
mean, if Stichus is dead at the time the money is received. 
Had the phrase been intended, says Vangerow, to state 



THE FINAL AGONY OF PREPARATION. 203 

that Stichus died after the money was paid, it should 
have been worded si morietur. According to this inter- 
pretation, the passage comes under the general provis- 
ion of the Roman Law, that an agreement based upon 
a performance which is impossible at the time, never 
becomes perfect. The only difference between a con- 
tract of sale and a contractus itinoftiinatus is, that the 
impossibility in the former case must exist at the time of 
the verbal agreement ; in the latter case, at the time when 
one party begins to perform his share. 

Having thus taken my position, the labor of mere com- 
position became comparatively easy. I wrote off the 
dissertation in a few days, combatting hostile opinions 
as vigorously as possible, and fortifying my own state- 
ments with liberal quotations and references. The dis- 
sertation itself is, of course, on file in the archives at 
Gbttingen, where, I trust, it will remain to accumulate 
the dust of ages in undisturbed repose. I have in my 
possession only the original notes of study and the rough 
draft. Judging from them, I should say that the dis- 
sertation filled twenty-five to thirty pages of legal cap. 
It would have been an easy thing to double, or perhaps 
treble, its length. But it seemed to me that the examin- 
ers would prefer a succinct, straightforward statement of 
opinion, something homogeneous in structure, and not 
loaded down with superfluous matter. The prime object 
of the dissertation, I took it, was to give evidence that 
the writer had been over the entire ground and under- 



204 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

Stood the question in all its bearings. This view was the 
correct one. 

Doubtless the reader has been bored more or less by 
the discussion of this notorious lex i6 D. '''' dedi tibi pecu- 
niam." I suspect that the above analysis will not be 
more than half intelligible, even to one familiar with the 
mysteries of the Common Law. Were it my object to 
produce a pleasing personal narrative merely, I should 
omit this part altogether. But as my object, is rather to 
show precisely how students in a German university 
work, and what is expected of them, I do not feel at 
liberty to pass over in silence any essential part of my 
university course. It is well for the reader to know that 
the faculty, in admitting a candidate to examination, 
will not hesitate to set him very puzzling theses. And it 
will also be well to call the reader's attention, in this 
practical way, to one important circumstance in connec- 
tion with the Roman Law. I mean the danger, not to 
say the senselessness, of making random quotations from 
the corpus juris. It is a work like many others, like the 
Bible itself, a work long and broad and deep, the product 
of many minds and many generations of minds, bristling 
with difficulties of interpretation, yet — to one who 
approaches it with due preparation — a work from which 
rare truth can be extracted ; but only by one who has 
had due preparation. To the amateur civilian, the dilet- 
tante in Roman Law, the corpus juris is a book from 
which he can prove anything, and consequently nothing. 
There are many passages which are penned in the sim- 



THE FINAL AGONY OF PREPARATION. 205 

plest Latin, and are intelligible to every reader ; but they 
are interspersed with others that demand the widest col- 
lateral research. One who has not studied the Roman 
Law as a system can never be sure what sort of a passage 
he may have before him. No less a person than Black- 
stone himself is a signal instance of such blundering. 
The learned English judge is fond of ventilating here 
and there his would-be knowledge of the Roman Law. 
Coming to the study of the Commentaries fresh from 
my training in Gottingen, I was struck, nay more, thun- 
derstruck, with Blackstone's ignorance. It is scarcely 
going too far to say that Blackstone, in a majority of the 
cases where he ventures upon some statement of Roman 
Law, is not only wrong, but grossly wrong ; so far out of 
the way, indeed, that one wonders how he could possibly 
have fallen into such a predicament. On the other hand, 
Chancellor Kent, who studied the Roman Law carefully 
and systematically, is a safe guide to follow. Knowing 
that law as an expert, not as an amateur, he has suc- 
ceeded in applying its principles to the elucidation of 
our English system with a sureness of insight and a 
breadth of vision that may possibly be rivaled by some 
future disciple, but will never be surpassed. 

The full text of the citation from the corpus juris 
canonici runs as follows : 

" Nan est a vobis {sicut arbitra?tiur) incognitufn qualiter 

Rex Anglorum pro discordia, quae inter ipsum et filios suos 

est suborta, uxores eorum detineat. Nos itaque attendentes 

justum ethonestum esse itt viri suaspetant uxores, mandamus^ 

18 



2o6 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

quatenus eundem Hegem ad eas restituendas solicietl mofieatis : 
et si juxta commonitionem vesiram filiis suis uxores suas 
intra cerium terminuftt rion restituerit, ex tunc in quacumque 
provinciarum detinentur vel transferuntur donee ibi fuerint, 
nulla divina officia {praeter Baptismum parvulorum et 
poenitentias morientiuni) celebretis nee pertnittatis aliquatenus 
celebrari." 

Alex. III., papa, archiepiscopis, episcopis et aliis praelatis 
per Angliam constitutis. 

After reading the passage carefully, to make sure of 
getting the exact meaning, I could not restrain an ejacu- 
lation of amazement. The papal message was clear 
enough, but, in the name of Alexander and all the other 
Popes, what was I to do with it ? It furnished no 
materials for an argument, it did not conflict with any 
known principle of the mediaeval church. How, then, 
was it to be expanded into the dimensions of a respect- 
. able essay .'' Or was the passage, apparently so simple, 
in reality a snare, a trap laid for me by the examiners 1 I 
studied it again and again, but could discover nothing 
that forced me to alter my first impression. 

In this quandary, I submitted the passage to Dr. 
Maxen. He laughed over it after his usual fashion, and 
said : " That's easy enough. There is no trap in the 
passage The examiners have only given you an oppor- 
tunity to display your historical knowledge. Consult 
Gonsalez Tellez and the text-books on the Interdict, and 
don't spare padding." Relieved by this assurance, I 
began work in earnest. The great Spanish commentator, 



THE FINAL AGONY OF PREPARA TION. 207 

Gonsalez Tellez, lo whom students of the corpus juris 
canonici can never be sufficiently grateful for his life-long 
labors, had treated the passage, I discovered, at length, 
in his fourth volume. From him I gathered the facts of 
the case. Henry II., that most amiable of English rulers, 
always in hot water either with the clergy or the nobility 
or his own family, had quarreled with his three sons, 
Henry, Richard and Godfrey. Thereupon the sons had 
set up the standard of revolt in the then English province 
of Aquitaine. To punish them and compel them to lay 
down their arms, the King seized and held their wives as 
hostages. The husbands appealed to the papal chair 
and succeeded in obtaining the decree in question, 
wherein the Pope, by virtue of his authority as God's 
vicegerent upon earth, enjoins the King to desist from 
his crime of attempting to put asunder what God has 
plainly joined. The archbishops (of York and Canter- 
bury), the bishops, and the other clergy of England, are 
to induce the King, if possible, to restore the wives. But 
if their admonitions are of no avail, they are to pronounce 
over every province in which the wives are detained, or 
to which they may be removed, the great Interdict, 

The first point in my dissertation was to discuss in full 
the Roman Catholic theory of punishment. The means 
of discipline are divided into two general classes : the 
poenitentiae (more correctly, exercitia poenitentiae, penance), 
and the poenae. The former, poenitentiae^ are imposed 
upon the sinner who is already awakened to a conscious- 
ness of his guilt and seeks voluntarily to be reconciled 



2o8 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

with the church. The poe?2ae, on the other hand, apply to 
the still impenitent. They are subdivided into censurae and 
poenae proper. The censurae serve as deterrents, to recall 
the sinner from his evil course, to compel him, as it were, 
to reconciliation. Hence they are also called poenae 
medicinales. The poenae proper are true punishments, 
inflicted to avenge the violation of holy law, and are 
called poenae vindicativae. They consist in imprisonment, 
flagellation, fines, degradation from the priestly office, and 
the like. 

The censurae or poenae medicinales are of .tAvo kinds : 
the excommunication and the interdict. The excommu- 
nication may be either minor or major. The minor 
excommunication excludes the sinner from participating 
in the sacraments of the church. The major cuts him 
off" from all church exercises ; he cannot be buried in 
consecrated ground or with the ordinary ceremonies ; 
his name cannot be mentioned in the prayers of the 
church, he cannot appear in court, either in his own 
behalf or in behalf of others, and he may be declared an 
outlaw. He can hold no intercourse with the faithful ; 
in the words of the mediaeval verse, 

Os., orare, vale, communio, mensa negatur. 

The interdict is a general suspension of church exer- 
cises, and not merely an exclusion of one or more persons 
from participating in them. It may be local, ox personal, 
or deambulatory, as in the present case. The interdict, 
again, may be general or special, according as a whole 
district or only a single church is affected by it. 



THE FINAL AGONY OF PREPARATION. 209 

The excommunication strikes at the offender alone ; 
the interdict, on the other hand, involves both the guilty 
and the innocent in the same punishment. The history 
of the excommunication dates from the earliest times of 
the Christian church, its institution being based upon the 
utterance contained in Matt. xvi. 17, in connection with 
I Cor. v. 5, and other passages. In excluding the sinner 
from communion with the faithful, the church (Catholic 
and Protestant as well) simply exercises a right common 
to all societies, namely, that of rejecting an unworthy 
member. With the interdict, the case is different. So 
long as the church was missionary and militant, engaged 
in the work of converting pagan Europe, the interdict 
was a weapon likely to do more harm than good. 
Although a few obscure instances are mentioned in the 
earlier centuries of the Christian era, the interdict, as a 
system of terrorism, was not fairly developed until the 
Middle Ages, that is to say, until the church had become 
the ecclcsia triumphans and aspired to rule not only things 
spiritual but things temporal. An excommunicated sove- 
reign could easily find ways and means of evading the 
penalties of the sentence and compelling the obedience 
of his subjects. But where the interdict was pronounced 
over his land, suspending all, or almost all, the public and 
private exercises of divine worship, the pressure brought 
to bear upon high and low was too great to be resisted. 
Every one felt a keen and direct interest in bringing 
about a reconciliation between the offending ruler and 
the offended church. The interdict thus became the 
*i8 



GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 



chosen weapon of the mediaeval Popes, the thunderbolt 
by which an Innocent or a Gregory struck down rebel- 
lious princes. Hurter, in his Life of Innocent III., has a 
long and eloquent passage descriptive of the operation 
of the interdict suspended by that Pope over France 
because of the refusal of Philip to separate from his mis- 
tress, the celebrated Agnes of Meran. I give a few 
extracts, in paraphrase rather than in literal translation. 
" Life, in all its higher phases, appeared dissevered 
from the church. The radiance of consecration was 
dimmed, earthly existence without communication with 
the heavenly. True, the new-born child was still received 
into the covenant of God, but only furtively, as it were ; 
the day that else called forth joy and exultation from the 
parents' breast, now passed in mournful silence. The 
bond of matrimony was entered into, not before the altar, 
but over the grave, as by those worthy of death. The 
guilt-laden conscience was not lightened by confession 
and absolution, the weary were not cheered by the 
preaching of the word, the hungry not fed with the body 
of the Lord. Only from the steps of the church, and 
only on Sunday, was the priest allowed to exhort the 
people to repentance. Only in secret, with the faint 
hope of God's mercy, did the dying man receive the 
viaticum. But the last unction, consecrated ground, 
even funeral rites were denied him. Friend could not 
bury friend, children could not cover their parents with 
so much as a handful of earth, the corpse of the noble- 
man found no more favor than the corpse of the beggar." 



THE FINAL AGONY OF PREPARA TION. 2 1 1 

After thus discussing the nature of church censure and 
its efficacy in the Middle Ages, I proceeded to show that 
according to the Roman Law (notwithstanding \is patria 
potestas), the English, and the Canon Law, the son had a 
right to the undisturbed possession of his wife, even as 
against his own father. The act of Henry IL, in seizing 
a wife as hostage for the misdeeds of the husband, conced- 
ing that the revolt was a misdeed, clearly contravened 
every known system of law and justice.* It was simply 
an act of arbitrary power, against which, coming as it did 
from the supreme ruler of England, the aggrieved hus- 
bands had no redress. They appealed to the Pope, as 
the judge of kings, to interfere in behalf of human right 
and divine law. Assuming that there was no complicity 
on the part of the wives, I took the broad ground that, in 
accordance with the spirit of the times, the stretch of 
papal power was in this instance, if ever, fully justified. 
There was scarcely any other way of reaching a sovereign 
like Henry IL 

One point, which interested me more than all the 
others, I had to leave undecided. It was this, whether 
the threatened interdict was actually carried out, or 
remained a mere brutum fulmen. The Gottingen library 
is very rich in works of history ; I ransacked the English 
department diligently, but did not succeed in finding an 
allusion either to the Papal threat or to any, influence 
that it might have had upon the peaceable adjustment of 

♦Especially the English law, which, in some instances, even exonerates the 
wife as an accomplice, on the presumption that she has acted under marital 
compulsion. 



GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 



the domestic quarrels of Henry II. In such researches, 
success is largely dependent upon the amount of time at 
one's disposal. After hunting over fifty or a hundred 
ponderous old folios in English, French and German, 
grim with dust and cobwebs, and boring the amiable 
assistant librarian, I dropped the attempt. Should any 
of my readers feel disposed to take it up, I wish him all 
success. 

The dissertations thus disposed of, I suffered them to 
lie idle a while with a view to making verbal emendations 
from time to time, before submitting them to the dean, 
and turned my energies to the distasteful but indispensa- 
ble labor of " cramming. " The recollection of the days 
and weeks spent in this monotonous process makes me 
feel, even at the present day, unspeakably discomforted. 
What should have been spread over four or five months, 
and taken in homoeopathic doses, had to be devoured in 
a few weeks. If there be one thing more than another to 
which I am opposed, on general principles, it is " cram- 
ming " for an examination. Not only is the brain worn 
out by the effort to master mere words and forms, but the 
chances are that when the object is attained, the exami- 
nation over, one's dearly bought knowledge will slip away 
nearly as fast as it came. The task before me was not to 
learn any thing new, to develop new principles, to follow 
out some line of independent investigation, but to drum 
into my head definitions, names, dates, subdivisions of 
topics, exceptions, so as to be able to recite them 
glibly. This, of course, was not to be all the exaraina- 



THE FINAL AGONY OF PREPARA TION. 213 

tion. But it would be undoubtedly a prominent part. 
Had I been able to prolong my stay until spring, I should 
have made things easier, by combining memorizing with 
jcollateral reading. As it was, I had to make the best of 
my limited time. The examiners, I knew, expected me 
to be thoroughly informed on certain subjects. Inasmuch 
as my examination would not cover the entire range of 
the law, but only so much as came under Roman and 
ecclesiastical jurisprudence, it behooved me to work up 
that portion all the more thoroughly, and thus prove to 
the examiners that they had not acted indiscreetly in 
giving me a trial. Being favored, I was under especial 
obligations. So I sacrificed my general principles to the 
needs of the situation, and " crammed " to the best of my 
ability. 

As has been already mentioned, I had reduced my 
notes and portions of certain text-books to a compact 
and manageable shape. Allowing ten hours a day for 
four weeks, I drew up an elaborate schedule of study. So 
many hours or portions of hours every day were assigned 
to this topic, so many to that. I learned everything by 
heart, by sheer dint of repetition. Not being endowed 
by nature with a good memory, I had to proceed slowly 
and very systematically, catechizing myself at every step. 
The three main subjects were Erbrecht^ Criminal Law, 
and Ecclesiastical Law. To the first I gave two hours and 
a half every day, to the two others two hours each. The 
remaining three hours and a half were split up in miscel- 
laneous cram. The process was anything but an Intel- 



214 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

lectual one. It consisted in going over the memoranda 
again and again until I had made sure of every point. 

At the end of three or four weeks, I was surprised to 
see how much progress I had made, and how the memory- 
had trained itself to retain names and dates and divis- 
ions. No one can realize the extent to which the 
memory can be trained, until he has tried for himself the 
experiment of memorizing an extensive and complicated 
subject. At first, the attempt seems hopeless. Names 
and rules slip in by the eyes and out again by the ears. 
What was learned one day, is forgotten the next. But 
the reader, if he does not know it already through his 
own experience, may take my word for it. that there will 
come a time when the knowledge sticks. Minor points 
may need occasional revision, but the solid frame-work 
of the subject will acquire a firm foothold in the memory. 
The subject itself has passed into the student's mind, it 
forms part and parcel of his very being, and cannot be 
dislodged, not even at will. What has been " crammed " 
into the memory, haunts the crammer like Banquo's 
ghost, thrusting up its hateful head on the most unseason- 
able occasions. At this stage of the work, it is a prob- 
lem to decide whether the student has mastered the 
subject, or the subject the student. 

By the middle of October, but for one unfortunate 
circumstance, I might have announced myself ready for 
the examination. The labor was substantially over. 
I had learned by heart all that had come to me 
in the shape of lectures on Erbrecht, Criminal Law, 



THE FINAL AGONY OF PREPARATION. 215 

Ecclesiastical Law, the History of Roman Juris- 
prudence, and was prepared to venture on the gen- 
eral principles of the Pandects. Francke's lectures, in 
particular, on Erbrecht., I had mastered so thoroughly as 
to be able to recite them from beginning to end, back- 
wards or forwards, or to start in the middle and go both 
ways at once. It gave me a certain amount of pleasure 
to imagine that I was thus getting the better of one who 
had expressly declared his disbelief in my attainments. 
There was no ground for anticipating unfair treatment in 
the examination from any one, but there was ground for 
believing that from Francke I should get justice untem- 
pered with mercy. Accordingly, the uppermost thought 
in my mind for months was this : With the other exam- 
iners I may make a slip here and there, but with him I 
must and will answer every question. In this there was 
no feeling of personal animosity. On the contrary, I had 
the greatest respect for Francke as a man, and regarded 
his lectures as wonderfully clear and to the point. The 
oftener I reviewed them, the greater became my admira- 
tion for the intellect that had planned them. Were I a 
jurist in Germany, I should cherish my notes of those 
lectures as a vade mcciim for the most subtle and knotty 
branch of all jurisprudence. Besides, a sense of justice 
forced me to admit that, taken at his point of view, he 
might be right. I was not, in strictness, entitled to an 
examination ; he might have reason to suppose that one 
who had studied less than the usual time must be unpre- 
pared. I felt no resentment, therefore, but I was piqued 



2i6 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

and put on my mettle. In an American college there is 
friction enough, as every one knows, between professor 
and student, but it arises from personal dislike, and 
assumes a very petty shape. As our examinations are 
usually conducted in writing, each member of the class 
having the same questions, it would not be easy for the 
examiner, even if so disposed, to treat any one student 
unfairly. To do so, he would have to close his eyes 
willfully and heinously to the written paper before him. 
But in an oral examination, which lasts several hours, 
and in which the examiner has a free choice of questions, 
this element of personal antagonism may become a 
serious matter. The candidate who has reason to sus- 
pect that one or more examiners are opposed to him, 
must prepare himself with the utmost care. In law 
there is a certain latitude of opinion, but not nearly so 
much as in medicine, for instance, or philosophy, or his- 
tory. It happens not unfrequently that the candidate in 
one of these branches, holding views differing from those 
of the examiner, will work up some controverted topic 
most elaborately, and turn the examination into a sort 
of word-duel between himself and the examiner. Nor 
does the examiner always come out from such an encoun- 
ter the victor. An old-fogy professor — such men exist 
even in Germany — may be ridden completely out of the 
field by some half-developed Wolff, or Heyne. My 
ambition did not aspire to such a feat. All that I could 
aim at was to know thoroughly what every student should 
know, and answer legitimate questions promptly. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Exatnination. 

'T'^HE unfortunate circumstance that prevented my en- 
-^ tering the examination by the middle of October was 
one that has frustrated many a well laid scheme of " mice 
and men." I broke down in health. For six months I 
had worked under what engineers would call a pressure 
of fifty pounds to the square inch. All through the 
enervating weather of spring and the depressing heat of 
the dog-days, I had slaved over books and notes, eight 
and ten and twelve hours a day, without a rest, without 
even a break in the dull monotony, and now nature 
resented the outrage. What injured me was not so much 
the amount of work performed, but the feverish haste 
with which it was driven, and the want of variety. I 
have studied quite as assiduously on more than one occa- 
sion since, without feeling the worse for it. But then I 
was not cramming for examination ! 

The week before the opening of the winter semester, 
I began to be conscious of a total want of energy, and 
an inability to keep my mind fixed on one subject for 
longer than half an hour. I could neither sleep by night 
nor rest by day, and was nervous to the last degree. It 
became evident to me that this was no fit state of mind 

19 



2i8 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

or body in which to encounter a severe examination. 
The nervousness assumed such a violent shape that I 
suspected an attack of chills and fever, or possibly some- 
thing worse. The physician, however, assured me that 
it was only a temporary prostration, and could be cured 
by rest and change of air, but by nothing else. To 
attempt to go on with my work would be downright mad- 
ness. 

Fortunately no day had yet been set for the examina- 
tion, neither were there many candidates at that time. 
Both Ribbentropp and Kraut, whom I consulted more as 
friends than as professors, advised me by all means to 
drop everything and take a vacation. "It will make very 
little, if any, difference to us," they said, " whether you 
are examined in October or in November. In fact, the 
delay will rather suit us, because it will give us more time 
for working off prior applications. Hand in your disser- 
tations, which we can then read at our leisure, take a 
holiday of a fortnight or more, and when you are back, 
inform us of your return. The rest can be easily 
arranged." 

Accordingly I put the finishing touches to the disser- 
tations, returned two or three basketfuls of books to 
the library, and turned my back upon Gottingen and 
the corpus juris. Having numerous friends at Heidel- 
berg, I made that my first object-point. It mattered 
nothing to me where I went, so long as I could enjoy 
myself. No sooner had I taken my seat in the night 
express, than a heavy load seemed to roll off my mind. 



EXAMINA TION. 2 1 9 



Even the eight or nine hours of jolting and two changes 
of cars were welcome. Anything was better than books. 
The Heidelberg friends received me warmly. As it was 
only the beginning of the semester, they were not pressed 
for time. One or two Kneipeti were arranged in honor 
of the guest, who had nothing to do but wander about 
from room to room, talking over old times, or to ramble 
over the castle and up to the Kaiserstuhl. One excursion, 
in particular, I shall never forget. On a glorious October 
day four of us set out in an open coach for the famous 
gardens of Schwetzingen. The road, after leaving the 
outskirts of Heidelberg, follows a straight line for five 
miles. It serves, I believe, as the base-line for the 
trigonometrical survey of this part of the Grand Duchy. 
Under ordinary circumstances, a straight line cannot be 
regarded as picturesque. But when it traverses rich 
fields filled with fruit-trees that bend under their 
load of golden fruit, so that the air is heavy with the 
fragrance, and you yourself, a prisoner snatching a brief 
respite from drudgery and confinement, are rolling along 
it in company with three jovial friends, you will be apt to 
take the good things of nature as they come, and not find 
fault with trifles. 

The arch-ducal gardens of Schwetzingen, begun about 
the middle of the eighteenth century by the Prince Elec- 
toral Charles Louis, are on a large scale. They cover 
1S6 Jlforgen of land. (A Morgen is about an acre.) The 
inner, or older, portion is laid out in the French style, in 
broad alleys, crossing each other at right angles, and 



GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 



lined with limes and orange trees in large wooden hold- 
ers. At the crossings of the alleys are statues and stat- 
uettes, figures of nymphs, naiads, dragons, and other 
quaint garden devices of the order Louis Quatorze. To 
my taste there is nothing so disagreeable of its kind as a 
French garden on a small scale. It suggests the attempt 
to squeeze nature into a straight-jacket tricked out with 
finery. But on a generous scale, where the alleys are 
thirty and forty feet broad and hundreds of feet in 
length, the limes well grown and meeting at the tops, the 
vista closing in every direction with bubbling fountains, 
the French garden, more correctly called a park, is a 
consummate work of art. It shows off nature to advan- 
tage. The more so if, as is the case at Schwetzingen, the 
French part is surrounded and relieved by the charming 
irregularity of the so called English garden. The con- 
trast of the two styles was to me something inexpressibly 
fascinating. In the English part, which is of much later 
date, the trees are chiefly horsechestnuts. On the par- 
ticular day of which I write, the ground was covered with 
chestnuts and burrs. As we rambled through the wind- 
ing alleys, we gathered chestnuts by the hatful and 
pelted one another in mimic warfare. What with this 
amusement, playing leap-frog, and getting up foot-races 
and jumping-matches, we behaved more like American 
Freshmen than dignified Heidelberg and Gottingen 
Burschen. There is not a little to see at Schwetzingen. 
The castle is usually open to visitors ; then there is the 
Mosque, the Temple of Minerva, the Temple of Mercury, 



EXAM IN A TION. 221 



the colossal statues, the " Rhine " and the " Danube." 
But these did not interest me much. I cared only for 
the open air, the fresh turf, the fountains and miniature 
lakes, the grand old forest trees. I forgot Pandects and 
dissertations utterly, and did not even mourn the loss. 

After a week thus spent in and around Heidelberg, I 
induced one of my friends to join me in a flying trip to 
Strassburg. We spent two or three days in exploring the 
wonderful cathedral, which is to me the most interesting 
in Europe. Standing almost under the great Rose- 
window, and letting the eye sweep down the aisle, one 
can trace, step by step, the development of the ogival, so 
called Gothic, style of architecture. The crypt, choir 
and part of the transept are still Basilican ; the rest of 
the transept is early Gothic, the nave is Gothic in its 
prime, the part around the Rose is Gothic on the decline. 
The tomb of Marshal Saxe, in the Church of St. Thomas, 
is a charming allegorical group, in marble, life-size, com- 
memorating the exploits of the great general of Louis 
XV. The marshal is descending to the tomb, conducted 
by France, a young woman in tears. Stalwart nude 
figures, crouching in fetters, symbolize the conquered 
nations. 

Besides the objects of art in Strassburg, I became 
much interested in studying the mixed character of the 
population. I never could make out quite to my own sat- 
isfaction whether the person with whom I chanced to be 
speaking was French or German. Everybody seemed to 
use both languages with equal fluency and equal inele- 



19 



GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 



gance. By the third day, I began to speak polyglot 
myself, commencing a sentence in French and ending in 
German. The tone of the place was French. The 
hotels, cafes, public gardens were conducted after the 
French fashion. But it seemed to me, even then, that 
while the surface polish came from France, the substance 
was German. Now that Alsace is " restored," as the 
Germans say, the tendency among English and Ameri- 
cans is to look upon the annexation as a deed of violence 
that cries aloud to heaven, and to join the French in 
bewailing the hard lot of the " reconstructed " Alsatians. 
For my part, I certainly do not blame the French for 
taking the loss of a valuable province to heart. But 
whether they will ever recover it, whether, indeed, they 
ought to recover it, is another matter. Historic rights 
and wrongs aside, one thing is very certain. There is an 
underlying element in Strassburg and throughout Alsace 
that is essentially German, and can be incorporated in 
time into the German body politic. Given twenty years 
of undisturbed possession, with German schools, a Ger- 
man university, a German military service, the Hohenzol- 
lern dynasty may abide the French onslaught with the 
utmost composure. I hazard the prediction that, should 
war be renewed, the Alsatians will be found among the 
hardest fighters on the German side.* 

* Goethe's account of his student-life in Strassburg and his flirtation at Ses- 
enheim (given in Wahrheit unci Dichtung)^ throws a strong light upon the 
thoroughly German character of the Alsatians and their mode of life at the 
middle of the eighteenth century. It is only after the Revolution had done its 
■work of demolition and reconstruction that we observe the French putting 
forward any claims to having Gallicized their Rhine provinces. 



EX A MINA TION. 223 



The fortnight of vacation passed in this way only too 
rapidly. I bade my Heidelberg friends a last farewell 
and returned to Gottingen by the end of the month, 
determined to " go in " this time, and put an end to the 
uncertainty. At all events I was physically ready for the 
examination. Health and spirits were never better. My 
dissertations had been read and approved. The day of 
examination was fixed for the third Saturday in Novem- 
ber, at four in the afternoon. The delay seemed almost 
too long, so great was my anxiety to reach a decision. 
However, there was nothing to do but to wait and work. 
Invigorated in mind and body, I took up once more the 
books and " cram " that had lain neglected on their 
shelves. There came over me one of those spells which 
the poets call inspiration. 1 worked as I had never done 
before. Everything was easy to me. Definitions, dates, 
names, intricate subdivisions were like child's play. So far 
from having forgotten anything, it seemed actually as if 
memory and judgment had continued to operate, uncon- 
sciously, all the while that I had been idling in Heidel- 
berg and Strassburg. In the first two weeks of November, 
I reviewed the entire summer's work and made it 
thoroughly my own. The ten hours' reading a day was a 
pastime rather than a toil. 

It was the Monday before the all-important Saturday. 
Wishing to go into the examination fresh, yet unwil- 
ling to fritter away the time, I devised the following plan 
for letting myself down gradually to do-nothingism. On 
that day I limited myself to eight hours, on Tuesday to 



2 24 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

six, on Wednesday to four, on Thursday to two. Friday 
was spent in sorting papers, answering letters, and dis- 
posing of odds and ends of business. A long walk in the 
afternoon and an inordinately long night's rest completed 
my preparation. 

The morning of Saturday was dull and threatened rain. 
I lounged about the Museum, reading the papers and 
playing a few games of billiards. The excitement of the 
game was just enough to banish from my mind for the 
while all unpleasant ideas of examination. After dinner 
the clouds lifted for an hour or two and the sun came 
out warm. The opportunity for a turn around the wall 
was too good to be neglected. 

I had been careful to keep the time of the approaching 
examination a secret. Nobody, as I supposed, but 
myself, the faculty, and the beadle knew of the precise 
day and hour. I had no desire to be congratulated too 
soon, only to be commiserated too late. Before three 
o'clock I was back in my room, dressing for the encoun- 
ter. Perhaps the reader will smile at the idea of a 
student dressing for examination. But then Germany 
and America differ on this point, as they do on so many 
others. A university examination for degrees is a matter 
of ceremony. The professors come in full dress, and 
expect the candidate to do the same. Swallow-tail coat, 
silk hat, white cravat and white kid gloves are derigueur. 
A sponge-bath, — which is not a part of any German official 
programme, — fortified me for wearing the swallow-tail 
with an equanimity that was as gratifying as it was surpris- 



EX A MINA TION. 225 



ing. Buttoning my overcoat up to the chin, so as to con- 
ceal my white cravat from prying glances, I slipped out 
of the house as quietly as possible and strolled down the 
Wende street toward the residence of the dean, Hofrath 
Kraut, looking in at the shop windows for new books. 
By this time the sun had disappeared, the brief winter 
twilight of North Germany had also disappeared, and the 
street was almost as dark as night. It was not very diffi- 
cult, then, to avoid friends and acquaintances. 

While waiting in the ante-room of the Hofrath 's apart- 
ments, my equanimity was upset by one of the minor 
trials of life. White kid gloves are made in Germany to 
tear. One of mine, the left-hand, tore across the palm 
from side to side, when I attempted to pull it on. Neces- 
sity, it is well known, is the mother of invention. I used 
my left hand for holding my hat ! The only drawback 
to the expedient was that it compelled me to retain the 
same position of the hand for three hours, no small item 
in an examination. 

At four o'clock, punctually, the door of the Hofrath's 
study opened, and the beadle ushered me into the august 
presence of the examiners. Like myself, they were in 
grand toilet, seated in a sort of semi-circle facing the 
door, and looking quite unconcerned. An unoccupied 
chair stood in the center of the circle. Off in one corner 
was a small table; on it were two or three bottles of wine 
and a basket of cake. The festive aspect of the room 
suggested a reception rather than an examination. After 
I had bowed to the company in general and shaken 



226 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 



hands with them individually, the dean motioned to me 
be seated. 

The examination wa§ opened without preamble or 
ceremony, by the head of the faculty, the dean. Hofrath 
Kraut's specialty was German Law, but as that did not 
form a part of my examination, he took up Ecclesiastical 
Law. He detained me not quite half an hour, putting 
his questions deliberately but not slowly. They were not 
difficult in themselves, although requiring precision in 
the answering. Not one bore any reference to church 
discipline. The reader may take for granted that, should 
he venture into an oral examination before a German 
faculty, he will not be questioned directly upon the sub- 
ject contained in his dissertation, but rather upon some- 
thing having a distant relation to it. A friend of mine, 
who took his degree at Leipsic, wrote his dissertation 
upon Homeric Greek. Thinking that he would probably 
be called upon to translate difficult passages in the 
examination, he crammed the entire Iliad and Odyssey. 
It was a case of love's labor lost ; he was asked to trans- 
late from the dramatists. My examination in Ecclesias- 
tical Law covered the entire field of matrimony and 
matrimonial rights and obligations, the mode of contract- 
ing marriage according to the early Roman Law, accord- 
ing to the law of the Empire, according to the practice 
of the early Church, according to the council of Trent, 
according to the Code Napoleon. I was called upon to 
state the Catholic theory of marriage as a sacrament, and 
the obstacles to marriage between certain parties, the 



EX A MINA TION. 227 



imj>edimefitum aetatis, erroris, vis ac iiiefus, cognatiotiis, and 
the like, the papal dispensations, divorce a vinculo, a 
mensa et thoro. The next topic was the nature of the 
priesthood in the Catholic church and in the Protestant, 
the right of patronage (advowsons), and the composition 
of the corpus juris canonici clausuin. The chief difficulty 
that I labored under arose from the circumstance that 
Hofrath Kraut was slightly deaf. This obliged me to 
raise my voice more than was pleasant. The questions, 
I have said, were not hard, that is to say, they did not 
demand original thinking. But they were precisely worded 
and called for exact knowledge. A candidate who had 
not studied faithfully Herrmann's lectures or their equiv- 
alent, could not have answered more than one in three, 
possibly four. I missed a name or date now and then, 
but in the main was satisfied. When the Hofrath had 
finished, I felt that if the rest were no worse, I should 
pass with a margin. 

The next examiner was Ribbentropp. His questions 
wete much sharper than I had anticipated from one who 
had proved himself such a good friend. Perhaps the 
Geheimjustizrath had confidence in his protege's claims 
and wished to demonstrate to some of his colleagues that 
his partiality was not without foundation. Of course I 
did not get a single question on the contractus innominatus 
or the condictiones . But I was questioned most unmerci- 
fully on the general theory of contracts, upon suspensive 
and abrogating conditions, upon times and terms, and 
especially upon the contract of sale. Had I been writing 



(A 



2 28 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

a monograph on the subject, I could not have been called 
upon for more exact and detailed statements. Suddenly 
the topic was changed, and we were in the midst of the 
rights of real property. I had to give all that I knew or 
was supposed to know of the ways of acquiring and los- 
ing real property, from the laws of the XII Tables down 
to the codification of Justinian. This led to the servi- 
tudes (easements) of the Roman Law, their classification, 
their nature in general and in particular, and their opera- 
tion. The questions came so fast that I had barely time 
to answer them. Perceiving that it was the examiner's 
intention to cover as mucH ground as possible, I deemed 
it expedient to assist him. Accordingly I wasted no time 
by asking for the repetition of a question ; if unable to 
hit upon the answer at once, I said simply : do not know, 
cannot say. It became evident that this mode of pro- 
cedure was well received. Nothing can be more exaspe- 
rating to an examiner than the suspicion that the exami- 
nee is " beating about the bush," or " fighting against 
time." In an oral examination, if you do not know a 
thing at once, the chances are ten to one that you will 
not know it at all, and the more you talk, the deeper you 
sink in the mire. Having, in my turn, examined scores 
of young men, I can say frankly that to the examiner a 
prompt, honest " Don't know," is worth a dozen " Can't 
understand the question." The trouble is not with the 
question, but with the answer. 

It was quarter past five. The Pandects had " blown " 
me a trifle. The dean, probably suspecting as much, 



EXAMINATION. 229 



said, with a good-natured smile : " We will now make a 
little pause." Going to the table, he filled the glasses 
with wine. The professors helped themselves liberally, 
and enjoyed the refreshments with a gusto that seemed 
to me rather cold-blooded. In such cases, it makes 
all the difference whether one examines, or is exam- 
ined. Feeling that under the circumstances a drop 
might be a bottle too much, I declined the proffered 
wine, and contented myself with cake and water. At all 
events, the relaxation was very acceptable. 

The pause did not last longer than five minutes. The 
third examiner was Zachariae, in Criminal Law. His 
questions, like those of Kraut, were not difficult, and 
were put even more deliberately. They were mainly 
upon the general theory of the right of punishment, the 
criticism of the Roman system, the views of Beccaria, 
Rossi, Bentham, Abegg, Feuerbach, and Mittermaier, 
the doctrine of punishment as a divine ordinance, the 
lex talionis, the theory of expiation, prevention, deter- 
ment, reformation, self-preservation on the part of 
society. The nature and kinds of punishment, the death 
penalty, imprisonment, fines, the several penitentiary sys- 
tems in force in Europe and the United States, the 
definition of criminal intent and criminal negligence 
completed the examination. At one question I sup- 
pressed with difficulty a smile. " Can you give me the 
precise meaning of crimen, as it is used in the corpus 
Juris ? " Ans. " The word denotes the Strafsache (the 
indictment and trial, procedure), rather than the criminal 
20 



230 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

act itself. This latter is designated by the Roman jurists 
by the terms delictum, malejictutn, scelus, and the like." 
In themselves considered, there was nothing about either 
question or answer to provoke risibility. The joke lay 
in the circumstance that I knew long before the examina- 
tion that this particular question would be given. It had 
occurred in Dr. Maxen's Repetitorium, and the doctor 
warned us at the time, saying : " If any of you are exam- 
ined by Zachariae, be sure that you know what crimen is. 
It is one of his hobbies." 

So far, so well. But the two remaining examiners 
were the ones most to be dreaded. Francke opened the 
interesting field of Erbrecht. It was evident from his 
manner, and from the first few questions, that he meant 
to be thorough. Forewarned, however, is forearmed. 
During the forty-five or fifty minutes that he kept me on 
the "anxious-bench," I was sustained by one, and only 
one, reflection. It was this : Treat me fairly ; give me 
such questions as ought to be given ; examine me only on 
things that you yourself have explained, and I ask no 
favor. You shall have an answer to every question. 
And such was the case. The examination was very long 
and exhaustive. Each question came as quick and 
searching as though the examiner himself were in doubt 
and sought for information. The following specimen 
may suffice. 

Q. What were the formal requirements of a private* 



* Private^ as distinguished from a will entered as a public act in the 
record of a court. 



EXAMINA TION. 231 



will, according to the law of the times of Justinian, as 
concerned the witnesses ? 

A. They must be seven in number. 

Q. Who are incapable of acting as witnesses ? 

A. Women, the deaf, dumb, furiosi, impuberes, prodigi 
(legally declared spendthrifts), the blind, the filius 
familias of the testator, the one instituted as heres, and 
whoever is united with him in patria potestas. 

Q. No matter about the others. What do you mean 
by the rogatio testis ? 

A. The witness must be asked to serve as such, that is, 
he must know that the act performed before him is the 
making of a will and not some other transaction. 

Q. Continue your enumeration of the requirements. 

A. The witnesses must be in the presence of the 
testator, must be situated so as to be able to see and 
hear all that is going on. 

Q. What is the unitas actus et temporis ? 

A. It ineans that the act shall not be interrupted. 

Q. When does it end ? Any time specified } 

A. Not until the testament is completed according to 
the full intent of the testator. 

Q. What do you mean by a suus heres ? 

A. Whoever, as son or grandson (through the son), was 
in th.Q potestas of the will-maker, the deceased, and became 
at his death sui juris. 

Q. What were the claims of a suus heres ? 

A. He must be either instituted heir or expressly dis- 
inherited. 



232 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

Q. To what particular share of the estate was he 
entitled ? 

A. To none. The testator could leave him as much or 
as little as he saw fit, only it must be something. 

Q. Could any conditions be imposed upon a smis heres ? 

A. No, unless coupled with the alternative of express 
disinheritance. 

Q. Who can make a will } 

A. In general, any one. 

Q. Who cannot make a will } 

A. Whoever can have no property of his own. 

Q. Whom do you mean by that } 

A. A son, for instance, in the potestas of his father. 

Q. Is every one sui juris entitled to make a will .'' 

A. No. Ititpuberes^ prodigi, deaf-mutes (born such). 

Q. Can a person simply deaf or simply mute make a 
will .? 

A. Yes, according to Justinian, but only in writing. 

Q. And deaf-mutes not born such } 

A. The testament must be altogether in the testator's 
own handwriting. 

Fifty minutes of such questioning are enough to shake 
any candidate who is not rooted and grounded in the 
faith. The close of Francke's examination was rather 
peculiar. 

Q. What are the liabilities of one who has entered 
into the possession of an inheritance {hereditas) in good 
faith {bo?ia fide), supposing that he was the lawful heir 
{heres), and is afterward sued by the real heir ' 



EXAMINA TION. 233- 



A. He is liable only for so much of the inheritance 
as actually remains in his possession, in id quod locupletior 
f actus est. 

Q. He is not liable, then, for what he has spent or 
wasted ? 

A. No ; not if he has acted in good faith that he was 
the heir. 

Q. Your answer is correct. Let me give you a practical 
case. A is in possession of an estate, supposing himself 
to be the sole heir. After several years, B comes forward 
and proves that he, B, is joint heir. In the meanwhile, 
A, leading a rather spendthrift life, has wasted half the 
estate. Can B say to A : You have spent your half of 
the estate ; hand over to me now what is left, for that is 
my half.'' 

I hesitated. The problem was wholly novel to me. I 
had certainly never met any thing resembling it, either in 
my books or lectures. Observing my hesitation, Francke 
said, rather sharply : " You understand me 1 " I replied : 
*' Yes, I understand. B cannot claim this of A. If the 
two are joint heirs, they are joint heirs at all times. If 
part has been wasted in good faith, both bear the loss in 
equal shares. What is left must be divided between the 
two." 

Breaking in so abruptly as to leave me scarcely time 
for finishing the sentence, he said, fixing his eyes full 
upon me : " Did you ever read any passage bearing upon 
this point ? " 1 replied : " No ; I answered on general 

principles." " Humph, humph," he said, " there is a pas- 
^20 



234 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

sage in the corpus Juris, from Ulpian. You are right. 
That will do, sir."* 

The fifth and last examiner, Briegleb, had things pretty 
much his own way. I had gone into the examination know- 
ing that Procedure was the weak side of my preparation, 
and had supposed that I should be spared any questions 
touching upon the special developments of the Roman 
law in Germany. Had the examiner confined himself to 
the Formular-process (procedure by formulae) of the 
ante-Justinian law, he would have elicited more satisfac- 
tory answers. Instead of doing this, he dwelt, apparently 
with great delight, upon the theory of appeals according 
to the practice of the medieval courts of the church, a 
matter about as familiar to me as were the laws of Manu. 
Fortunately Francke had consumed so much time with 
Erbrecht, that Briegleb had only twenty minutes left in 
which to punish me. I sat it out with as much grace as 
the circumstances would permit. After the excitement 
of Francke's examination was over, a decided reaction set 
in. I felt completely worn out, and answered almost 
listlessly. Don't know, to two questions in three. 

About five or ten minutes past seven, Briegleb closed 
his examination. I withdrew to the ante-room, to await 
the decision. Over three hours, I muttered ; they have 
not shown me much mercy. The suspense was almost 
intolerable. The ante-room was as much too cold as 



* The words heres, hereiiitas, and bo?ia fide possessor are technical terms of 
the Roman Law, for which we have no equivalents in English. The passage 
meant is, I believe, 1. 25, § 15 D. de hered. pet. (v. 3.) 



EXA MINA TIOM. 235 



the other room had been too warm. What with anxiety, 
the consciousness of having done so poorly at the close, 
and the general reaction, I was overpowered by a nervous 
chill. The time of waiting was only five minutes, yet it 
dragged as though it had been as many hours. The 
beadle^ opened the door, and I was ushered once more 
into the presence of the judges, to listen to the sentence. 
They were all standing. The dean stepped forward and 
said, in a measured accent, as if to make sure of each 
word : " Candidate, in consideration of the dissertations 
submitted in writing, and of the oral examination 
just concluded, we, the faculty of degrees of the Georgia 
Augusta, have resolved to confer upon you the second 
degree, raised, vera cum laude. Permit me to congratulate 
you." With that, he extended his hand. 

I took it mechanically. Had he told me that I had 
drawn the great prize in the Prussian lottery, my astonish- 
ment could not have been greater. The second degree 
raised ? Was there not some mistake about it } The 
utmost that I had hoped for was to pass. But to take 
two degrees above pass, sounded incredible. That the 
reader may understand the point, I should state that the 
legal faculty of Gottingen distinguished three grades. 
The lowest was entitled simply examine s^iperato. The 
one above it was entitled examine aim laude superato. 
The next in order was the vera cum laude. There was 
still another, nominally the first, called insigniter, or post 
insignia exhibita specim fux. It was given, however, very 
seldom, and only to such candidates as displayed extra- 



236 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

ordinary knowledge, both in their examinations and in 
their dissertations. The last instance of its conferment 
had occurred eight or ten years before. Even had my 
work been twice as good as it was, it would not have 
entitled me to an i?isigniter, for the reason that it did not 
cover the entire field of jurisprudence. Practically, the 
examiners had conferred upon me the highest degree in 
their power. 

Ribbentropp, who certainly showed his delight more 
than I did mine, patted me most paternally on the 
shoulder and whispered : " You did yourself credit. 
Come and see me to-morrow morning, at eleven. We 
will talk it up then." There was nothing more to do. I 
shook each examiner's hand in turn, muttered a few 
words of thanks, and fled. It seemed as though my head 
would burst with the pressure, unless I got a breath of 
fresh air. In a second I was out in the street, inhaling 
the cool November breeze and paying no heed to the 
scattering rain-drops. I hurried home, to shuffle off my 
ball-room costume and have some supper. Not even the 
successful candidate can live on air after such a trial of 
his powers of endurance. I felt famished. 

But the greatest surprise was still to come. I should 
mention, by the way, that I was boarding once more with 
Frau H — , the landlady in whose house I had passed the 
first two semesters. All my friends and acquaintances 
knew, of course, that I was a candidate for degrees. But 
no one had been informed of the day fixed for the exami- 
nation. That, I supposed, was a profound secret. Frau 



EX A MINA TION. 237 



H's parlor faced the head of the stairs. Let the reader 
imagine my bewilderment. As I stepped briskly and 
softly up the stairway, in the hope of turning down the 
side-passage and slipping into my room unobserved, the 
door opened and I was confronted with a blaze of light. 
The parlor was illuminated ! All the candles and lamps 
in the house had been pressed into the service. The 
good Frau herself, her face beaming with delight, stood 
in the doorway. No sooner had I come fairly within 
reach, than she darted forward and seized both hands — 
" O, I congratulate you, I congratulate you, Herr 
Doctor. Come in ! " Overcome by this unexpected 
welcome, I suffered myself to be dragged rather than 
led into the room. On the center-table was a huge 
cake. The icing bore the inscription of my name, the 
day, and the year. Around the rim of the cake was a 
wreath of laurel-leaves. The family were all there in 
honor of the occasion. Still tongue-tied with emotion, I 
thanked her as warmly as I could. " But," said I, " how 
did you know that this was the day } " " Never mind, that 
is my secret."* " Well then, if you decline to tell me that, 
perhaps you will inform me how you knew beforehand 
that I would pass. Suppose I had failed, what would you 
have done then with your cake and your laurel-wreath.' " 
" Ac/i Himmel ! As if any one could sit behind his books 
so long, only to fall through at last. No, no. We knew 
better. Besides, Dr. Maxen was sure that you would 
pass." " So the Doctor has been telling tales, has he ? 

* I suspected the Frau of bribing the beadle. 



238 GEJ^.UAX LLVIVERSITJES. 

Well, I can forgive him this time. But just consider, 

Frau H . that I haven't had anything to eat for 

more than six hours, and examination makes one fright- 
fully hungr}-." So the cake was carefully put away, to be 
cut in due form the next day, at dinner, and a bountiful 
supper brought on, that made me feel once more quite 
at peace with the world. 

The reader must suffer me to say a few additional 
words with reference to the examination as a whole. It 
impressed me as being throughout eminently fair. The 
questions were worded carefully, and although searching, 
and intended to be searching, they did not aim at " trij - 
ping " the candidate. The difficulty of the examination 
did not lie in anv one question, but in the immense 
extent of the ground covered. An occasional slip was 
not taken into account. \\Tiat the examiners evidently 
sought to ascertain was this : Has the candidate before 
us mastered the subject so as to be able to follow our 
interrogatories in every line that we may happen to 
strike ? Does he possess a clear survey ( Ucbersicht ) over 
the domain of jurisprudence, an accurate knowledge of 
general principles and the ability to apply them correctly .' 
Does he hold what he possesses as his own, or is he liable 
to be disconcerted by any sudden approach 1 The 
examiners, as it seemed to me, displayed a high degree 
of skill in changing the topic as soon as they found that 
the candidate had his answers ready. In this way they 
succeeded in running over the entire ground. It was 
evident that thev kn£w h^nv to examine. 



EXAMINA TION. 239 



A second point to which I desire to call attention is 
this : the great advantage of keeping cool. An oral 
examination lasting three hours and more, going into the 
minutiae of two years' study, and driven at the top of the 
examiners' speed, is not merely a test of the candidate's 
knowledge but is a heavy strain upon his physique. The 
least shade of nervousness, the least touch of headache 
may lead to disastrous results. One who has his wits 
about him can, let the worst come to the worst, extricate 
himself from a predicament by intimating to the exami- 
ner that he concedes his ignorance on a certain point, 
but is ready to be questioned on something else. There 
is no harm done by this. Examiners are not inquisitors. 
The candidate must, under all circumstances, be able to 
give to himself in an instant a clear account of what he 
is saying. He must never suffer himself to be led from 
bad to worse. But where he begins to stumble, to talk 
confusedly, to take back what he has just said, and then 
repeat it, and then take it back again, he only makes his 
case hopeless. He forgets what he really knows, and 
tempts to impatience those who would otherwise treat 
him with the utmost consideration. Besides, one who is 
under perfect self-control is rather inspired than de- 
pressed by a searching examination. The questions act 
as a stimulus, developing to a surprising extent latent 
powers of memory and judgment. A fellow-countrvman, 
who took his degree in medicine at Gottingen, narrated 
to me the following incident of his examination. After 
one or two preliminary questions on general physiology, 



240 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

the professor asked him for the chemical composition of 
the fatty acids. It was a difficult point, and one upon 
which he had not thought since leaving the chemical 
laboratory, upwards of two years before. For a moment 
he was non-plussed. But preserving his coolness and 
reflecting quietly but rapidly, he felt himself transplanted 
in imagination to the old lecture-room. He saw the 
blackboard before him, and upon it the formulae as they 
had been written out by the lecturer. He had only to 
read them off, by direct vision, as it were. The precision 
of his answer gave tone to all the rest of the examination. 
But to do this, in fact to pass an examination with any 
degree of satisfaction and credit, one must be fresh in 
mind and fresh in body. The candidate who goes into 
the presence of the examiners tired out with " cram- 
ming," runs the risk of killing his chances. I speak on 
this point with the confidence of one who has been 
through the ordeal and knows what it is. Although my 
general health had suffered from excessively rapid prep- 
aration, yet on the day of examination itself, thanks to 
the scrupulous care with which my studies had been 
tapered down and the complete rest of the preceding 
twenty-four hours, I was enabled to meet the examiners 
with as much unconcern as if they had been a dinner- 
party of friends. No amount of coolness, it is true, will 
make one know what he does not know. But coolness, 
and coolness alone, will enable the candidate to show 
what he does know to the best advantage. At the risk of 
wearying the reader, I venture to give an illustration of 



EX AM IN A TION. 2 4 1 



the folly of neglecting the laws of health. Contempora- 
neous with myself at G "ttingen was a law-student by the 

name of M , from Bremen. He was unquestionably 

a remarkable man. His memory was something pro- 
digious, and was surpassed only by his ambition and his 
capacity for work. He had studied the full term of six 
semesters, and had set his heart upon obtaining the rare 
distinction of an insigniter. To this end, he had studied 
with what seemed at times the fanaticism of an idolator. 
Being on intimate terms with him, I was thoroughly 
acquainted with his attainments, and set the highest value 
upon them. He displayed a maturity of mind that was 
incredible in one only twenty-three or twenty-four years 
of age. Nothing seemed too minute to escape his atten- 
tion, too subtle to perplex his powers of comprehension. 
Taken all in all, he was the ablest student that I have 
ever met. In comparison with him, I felt that I was but 

little better than a school-boy. Yet M , despite 

advice and remonstrances, simply threw away the prize 
just as it came within his reach. He was examined ex- 
actly one week before myself. Not only did he keep 
up his twelve and sixteen hours of " cram " from Monday 
to Friday, but he committed the unpardonable sin of 
studying all Friday night and all Saturday morning. I 
met him Saturday afternoon, as he was on his way to the 
examination. To use a boating-phrase, he was " pumped 
out " before the race. Deep black rings were around his 
eyes, the eyes themselves had lost their lustre, his whole 
manner was painfully nervous. He asked me, in the 
21 



242 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

tone of a dying man catching at a straw, whether I could 
think of any subject on which he might be unprepared. 
I suggested one or two formulae which had never oc- 
curred to him. He made me repeat them until he had 
got them by heart, and then hurried away. What took 

place in the examination never transpired. M left 

town the following Monday, without bidding his friends 
good-bye. He passed with only the second degree, 
which, to him, was little better than none at all. He was 
a disappointed man. Yet he had no one but himself to 
blame. Whoever could have seen him, as I did, only ten 
minutes before the examination, would not have needed 
the gift of divination to foretell the result. The exam- 
iners, who could only judge by what they saw and heard 
during the three hours of examination, doubtless regarded 
the candidate as a young man who had overrated his 
abilities, who had worked hard, but knew nothing thor- 
oughly and clearly. 

In America there is a widely prevalent practice called 
" reviewing for examination." What it amounts to, every 
professor knows too well. Students who have neg- 
lected their studies from week to week, preparing them- 
selves only when they expected to be called upon to recite, 
review for examination, by attempting to get up three 
months' work in as many days. Night and day the sud- 
denly industrious toil over " Trig.," or Greek, or Logic, 
in the hope of mastering just enough to pass without 
conditions. The idea of the value of the studies as 
something to be learned for future use has never occurred 



EXAM IN A TION. 243 



to them. Whether the fault Hes wholly with the student, 
or the collegiate system itself is to come in for a share 
of the blame, is a point open for discussion. Without 
attempting to settle it in this place, may I take the liberty 
of submitting at least a query ? Can the system which 
grades the performances of young men down to the per 
cent and fraction of the per cent, and lays so much stress 
upon good recitations and good examination-papers, be 
a happy one ? Even assuming that the present method 
of recitations will be retained, is it necessary that the 
professor-teacher shall always subordinate instruction to 
marking ? 

The candidate who has passed his university examina- 
tion is not yet a doctor. He is only a doctorandus. The 
ceremony of conferring the diploma is distinct from the 
examination, and is confined to the dean and the candi- 
date. On the Monday after the examination, I called, 
by appointment, upon Hofrath Kraut to receive the 
diploma. This document, printed on parchment-paper 
and not on parchment, is signed by the dean alone in the 
name of the faculty, and sealed with the great seal of the 
university. It is worded, as might be expected, in Latin. 
It is not my intention to inflict the text upon the reader, 
especially as it does not differ much in style from the 
pompous declarations of a like nature issued from our 
American colleges. But one other document connected 
with the diploma I must give entire. Before presenting 
me formally with the diploma, the dean said : " He7-r 
Hart, you must first sign this declaration : " 



244 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

Jus JURANDUM A J. U. DOCTORIBUS IN GEORGIA AU- 
GUSTA ANTE ReNUNCIATIONEM PRAESTANDUM. 

Ego jiiro atque pro7nitto^ me supremos in jure hon- 
or es fnihi nunc conferendos, in nulla alia universitate, ut mihi 
denuo conferafitur, petiturum vel admissurum ; porro, quo- 
ties contingety ut vel publice vel privatim sit docendum, scrib- 
endum, patrocinandum, judicandum, vel de jure responden- 
dum^ me conscientiae, legum, justitiae, veritatis et modestiae 
summam semper rationem esse /labiturum, nee quidquam in 
his, quod Dei gloriae vel publicae privatorumve saluti adver- 
sum sit, commissurum ; de cetera omnia, quae officiiim, digni- 
tasque doctor alls postulat, sincere optimaque jide peracturum 
atque praestiturum. Ita me Deus adjuvet et sacrosanctum 
ejus evangelium. 

Abundantly satisfied with the honor of a degree of 
doctor of laws from the University of Gottingen, and 
unaware of any intent to pervert my legal attainments to 
the frustration of divine or human justice, I signed the 
declaration cheerfully and with a good conscience. The 
dean informed me that it was a relic of mediaevalism.* 
The object of the first clause was to suppress the prac- 
tice, once common among candidates, of going about 
begging the same degree from different universities. The 
concluding phrase, et sacrosanctum ejus evangelium, is 
altered in cases where the doctorandus is a Hebrew. 

Within twenty-four hours after my examination, every 
one in town who knew me at all seemed to have heard of 

* GSttingen is a comparatively modern university ; but in this respect it has 
adopted the manners and practices of the others. 



EXAMINA TION. 245 



my success. Even the waiters put on an extra touch of 
politeness, and greeted me as Herr Doctor. Titles have 
great weight in Germany. Perhaps some of my readers 
have heard of the German Mrs. Partington, who divides 
mankind into two classes, the orderly {prdentlichen) and 
the unorderly [tmordentlichen). The orderly are those 
who have an order, and the unorderly are those who have 
not. The case is not quite so bad as that. Still there can 
be no question but that the man who is able to put Doctor, 
or Professor, or Rath before his name is much better off, 
in the eyes of the community at large, than one who is 
simply Herr. The title is an official recognition that the 
wearer is a person of some culture and attainments. 

The value of university degrees varies greatly with the 
universities themselves, and even with the several facul- 
ties of the same university. In general, the degree of D. 
D. is not given in course, on examination, but conferred 
only honoris causa, that is, upon men who have distin- 
guished themselves by their published works. With 
regard to the degree of M. D., the requirements are exten- 
sive, and are strictly enforced. The candidate must 
have studied the full term of four or five years, and 
offered very satisfactory dissertations, before he is admit- 
ted to examination. Jena, I believe, is the only univer- 
sity in Germany that degrades itself by selling its degrees 
to foreign applicants. The degree of J. U. D. is not 
often sought after by foreigners, and is even going out of 
vogue among the Germans themselves. It is not required 
for admission to the state examination. Ten years ago, 



246 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

Heidelberg was very liberal in conferring it, while G'ut- 
tingen was just the reverse. Whereas the philosophical 
faculty of Gottingen was liberal, and that of Heidelberg 
not. In general, the Prussian universities were some- 
what stricter than the others. Berlin, in particular, 
pushed its rigor to unwarrantable limits. At one time it 
was almost impossible to meet the requirements of the 
Berlin faculty in philosophy. Several universities made, 
and still make, a practice of excusing the candidate for 
Ph. D. from the oral examination. This is called taking 
the degree in absentia. The candidate submits his dis- 
sertation and goes out of town for a few days. The 
fiction is, of course, that he is called away by some unex- 
pected and urgent business. To obtain the degree in 
absentia^ however, one must prepare a very elaborate dis- 
sertation, containing a good deal of original matter. In 
chemistry, physics, and the like, where the candidate has 
worked two or three years, perhaps, under the constant 
supervision of the professors, so that they have had 
abundant opportunity of testing his knowledge from 
week to week, this dispensing with the examination is not 
such an evidence of laxity as it would seem. Upon the 
whole, the reader may take for granted that a degree is 
not conferred by a German university except for thorough 
and bona fide work in that special department of study. 
Jena, as I have already stated, is the only exception. No 
German university showers down honorary degrees upon 
business men and generals, after the fashion of our 
American colleges. 



PA RT II 



GENERAL REMARKS. 



GENERAL REMARKS. 



I ■"'ROM the foregoing personal narrative the reader 
-■- will probably be able to obtain a glimpse at the 
mode of life at a German university, to the extent at least 
of realizing how an American may live and study there. 
Yet there are certain features of the German method of 
higher education that can be adequately elucidated only 
by eliminating the personal element and discussing then^ 
in their more general bearings. I have deemed it proper, 
therefore, to supplement the personal narrative with the 
following remarks in the way of criticism. 

I revisited Germany in 1872-3. In that time I studied 
at Leipsic, Marburg, and Berlin, and passed a summer at 
Vienna. Brought thus in contact with professors, stu- 
dents and men of letters in the great German centers of 
thought, I had ample opportunity of reviewing and modi- 
fying early impressions, and of judging the university 
system as a whole. I venture to offer these remarks, 
then, as the result of recent comparative investigation. 
The first question that suggests itself is naturally this. 

I. 

What is a University ? 
To the German mind the collective idea of a univer- 
sity implies a Zweck, an object of study, and two Beding- 



250 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

ungen, or conditions. The object is Wtssefischaft j the 
conditions are Lehrfrciheit and Lernfreihcit. By Wissen~ 
schaft the Germans mean knowledge in the most exalted 
sense of that term, namely, the ardent, methodical, inde- 
pendent search after truth in any and all of its forms, but 
wholly irrespective of utilitarian application. Lehrfrci- 
heit means that the one who teaches, the professor or 
Frivatdocent, is free to teach what he chooses, as he 
chooses. Lernfreiheit, or the freedom of learning, denotes 
the emancipation of the student from Schulzwang, com- 
pulsory drill by recitation. 

If the object of an institution is anything else than 
knowledge as above defined, or if either freedom of teach- 
ing or freedom of learning is wanting, that institution, no 
matter how richly endowed, no matter how numerous its 
students, no matter how imposing its buildings, is not, in 
the eye of a German, a university. On the other hand, a 
small, out-of-the-way place like Rostock, with only thirty- 
four professors and docents, and one hundred and thirty- 
five students, is nevertheless as truly a university as 
Leipsic, where the numbers are one hundred and fifty 
and three thousand respectively, because Rostock aims at 
theoretical knowledge and meets the requirements of 
free teaching and free study. The difference is one of 
size, not of species. 

If we examine the list of lectures and hours of univer- 
sities like Leipsic, Berlin, and Vienna, we shall be over- 
whelmed, at first sight, with the amount and the variety 
of literary and scientific labor announced. The field 



WHAT IS A UNIVERSITY. 251 

seems boundless. All that human ingenuity can sug- 
gest is apparently represented. On examining more 
closely, however, we shall find that this seemingly bound- 
less field has its limits, which are very closely traced and 
which are not exceeded. Strange as it may sound to the 
American, who is accustomed to gauge spiritual greatness 
by big numbers and extravagant pretensions, a German 
university, even the greatest, perceives what it can do and 
what it can not do. 

It is not a place " where any man can study anything." 
Its elevated character makes it all the more modest. It 
contents itself with the theoretical, and leaves to other 
institutions the practical and the technical. The list of 
studies and hours for Leipsic in the semester 1872-3 fills 
thirty octavo pages. In all that list we shall discover 
scarcely one course of work that can be called in strict- 
ness practical. A German university has one and only 
one object : to train thinkers. It does not aim at pro- 
ducing poets, painters, sculptors, engineers, miners, archi- 
tects, bankers, manufacturers. For these, the places of 
instruction are the Art Schools of Dresden, Munich, 
Diisseldorf, the Commercial Schools at Bremen, Ham- 
burg, Berlin, Frankfort, the Polytechnicums at Hanover, 
Frankenberg, Stuttgart, etc. Even in the professions 
themselves, theory and" practice are carefully distin- 
guished, and the former alone is considered as falling 
legitimately within the sphere of university instruction. 
Taking up the four faculties in order : theology, law. 



252 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

medicine,* philosophy, and watching them at work, we 
shall perceive that the evident tendency of their method 
is to produce theologians rather than pastors, jurists 
rather than lawyers, theorizers in medicine rather than 
practitioners, investigators, scholars, speculative thinkers 
rather than technologists and school-teachers. Yet every 
pastor, lawyer, doctor, teacher, botanist, geologist has 
passed through the university course. What is meant, 
then, by the assertion that the university gives only theo- 
retical training.? Do not the practical men in all the 
professions receive their professional outfit at the univer- 
sity and can receive it nowhere else "i The seeming dis- 
crepancy is to be explained only by considering the 
university as a permanent, self-supporting institution, a 
world in itself, existing for itself, rather than a mere lad- 
der by which to ascend from a lower to a higher plane. 
Self-supporting, I mean, of course, in the sense that the 
university is a detached organism assimilating and grow- 
ing in accordance with its own laws. In a pecuniary 
sense, it is wholly or almost wholly dependent upon state 
subvention. The distinction, subtle as it may appear, 
is essential in forming a just conception of the character 
of university work. The university supplies itself with its 

* Medicine seems to form an exception ; the universities do teach the prac- 
tice of medicine very thoroughly. Yet the exception, which is apparent 
rather than real, only serves to illustrate the general principle. It is precisely 
because medicine is so much a matter of empiricism, so little a matter of pure 
science, that the German universities teach it as they do. Were it possible to 
establish a science of medicine, as distinguished from the mere tentative treat- 
ment of disease, we should find the practice thrown into the background of the 
university course, as is the case in law and theology. Even as it is, the study 
of medicine is made as theoretical as it well can be. 



WHAT IS A UNIVERSITY. 253 

educational staff exclusively from its own graduate mem- 
bers, who pass their entire lives within its precincts. The 
professors, assistant-professors, docents whose names one 
reads in the catalogue of Berlin or Leipsic or Heidelberg 
are one and all, with scarcely an exception, men who 
started in life as theoreticians and never made the effort 
to become practitioners. To them the university was not 
a mere preparatory school, where they might remain long 
enough to get their theoretical training, and then turn 
their backs upon it forever. On the contrary, it was an 
end, a career in itself. They have always been univer- 
sity men, and never expect to become anything else. In 
this place I must guard against being misunderstood. The 
reader would receive a very unfair impression of Gottin- 
gen, for instance, if he were to infer, from what has been 
said, that the Gottingen faculty is made up exclusively 
of Gottingen graduates. Quite the reverse is the case. 
Probably two thirds come from elsewhere. As a rule, the 
young Privatdocent receives his first call as professor 
from a university where he has not been known as a stu- 
dent. There exists in this respect complete parity among 
the German institutions of learning. The feeling which 
prompts an American college to prefer its own graduates 
for professors is something quite unknown in Germany. 
I leave it to the reader's judgment to decide which of the 
two systems is better : that of liberal selection, or that of 
"breeding-in." When I speak of a university as recruit- 
ing exclusively from its graduates, I mean neither Berlin 
nor Leipsic nor Heidelberg in particular, but the twenty 
22 



254 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

universities of the German empire regarded as one body, 
the members of which are perfectly co-ordinate. Profes- 
sors and docents, and even students, pass from one to 
another with a restlessness, we might say, that would be 
surprising in America, but which is looked upon in Ger- 
many as a matter of course. It is the exception, not the 
rule, when a man passes his entire career as instructor in 
one place. The key-note of the system is simply this. To 
those who are connected with the university in any instruc- 
tional capacity whatever, it is an end and not a means, a 
life and not a phase of life, a career and not a disci- 
pline. The professors are not selected from among the 
leading lawyers, pastors, doctors, teachers, scientists of 
the country or province. When a chair already existing 
becomes vacant, or a new chair is created, and the ques- 
tion of filling it comes up, the Senatus Academicus does 
not scrutinize the bench or the bar or the gymnasium for 
an available man. It endeavors to ascertain who is the 
most promising Privatdocent, either in its own midst or 
at some other seat of learning, the young man who has 
made his mark by recent publications or discoveries. 
The newly organized university of Strassburg is a signal 
instance in point. Within two years after the close of 
the French war, Strassburg was opened with a full corps 
of instructors in all the departments. The total number 
at present is eighty. Yet of these eighty not one, so far 
as I can ascertain, is what might be called a practitioner. 
They are all full or half-professors or docents called from 
other institutions of learning. One who is familiar with 



WHAT IS A UNIVERSITY. 255 

the muster-roll of the universities can resolve the Strass- 
burg list into its elements, saying : This man came from 
Berlin, that one from Vienna, that one from Wiirzburg, 
and so on. The reader will probably say : Is not this the 
case in America also ? Are not our college professors 
all college graduates ? To which the answer must be : 
Not in the same way, not to the same extent. How 
many of our college professors have been professors, and 
nothing else } How many have qualified themselves 
directly for the respective chairs which they occupy, by a 
life of special study.? How many of them formed the 
resolve while still students, to lead a college life forever, 
to devote themselves exclusively to instructing others in 
turn, either at their own Alma Mater or at some other 
college 1 I do not have in view such institutions as Yale 
and Harvard, old, well endowed, fed from the rich soil 
of New England culture. I mean the typical American 
college as it exists in the Middle, Southern, and Western 
States. How many of the professors have been in busi- 
ness, or tried their skill at farming, engineering, journal- 
ism } Has or has not the professor of Latin served an 
apprenticeship as mathematical tutor, or kept a boarding- 
school for young ladies ? How few of the hundreds and 
thousands of men, from New York to San Francisco, 
calling themselves professors, can say with a comfortable 
degree of pride : I selected my specialty in youth, I have 
pursued it without intermission, without deviation ever 
since, and I have produced such and such tangible evi- 
dences of my industry as a specialist. 



256 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

No, the reader may rest assured that the character and 
atmosphere of a German university differ radically from 
the character and atmosphere of the typical American 
college. It is a difference of kind, not merely of degree. 
Comparisons, according to the popular adage, are odious. 
Yet, even at the risk of giving offense, I take the liberty 
of drawing a comparison that may serve, perhaps, to 
throw some light on this vital point. At all events, the 
comparison shall be a just one. Marburg, in Hesse, has 
at present 430 students ; Princeton, my Alma Mater, has 
420. The numbers, then, are almost identical. Each is 
located in a small country town. Yet Princeton has, all 
told, not more than 18 professors and tutors ; Marburg 
has 62. Among them are men renowned throughout the 
world for their original investigations. The same might 
be said, indeed, of the Princeton faculty, but only with 
grave restrictions. No one professor at Princeton has 
the opportunity of working either himself or his students 
up to his or their full capacity. The instruction goes by 
routine, each professor contributing his quota to the sup- 
posed general development of all the students in a body. 
At Marburg there is the fourfold division of faculties ; 
there are students pursuing theology, law, medicine, clas- 
sic philology, modern philology, the natural sciences, 
history, orientalia. Each instructor has his select band 
of disciples, upon whom he acts and who re-act upon 
him. There is the same quiet, scholarly atmosphere, 
the same disregard for bread-and-butter study, the same 
breadth of culture, depth of insight, liberality of opinion 



WHA T IS A UNIVERSIT Y. 257 

and freedom of conduct, that one finds in the most 
favored circles of Leipsic, Berlin, Heidelberg, or Vienna. 
During every hour of the two months that I passed at 
Marburg, I was made to feel that a German university, 
however humble, is a world in and for itself; that its aim 
is not to turn out clever, pushing, ambitious graduates, 
but to engender culture. 

This condition is both cause and eflFect. Many of the 
students who attend the university do so simply with a 
view to becoming in time professors. The entire person- 
nel of the faculty is thus a close corporation, a spiritual 
order perpetuating itself after the fashion of the Roman 
Catholic hierarchy. Inasmuch as ever)'- professional man 
and every school-teacher of the higher grades has to pass 
through the university, it follows that the shaping of the 
intellectual interests of the country is in the hands of a 
select few, who are highly educated, perfectly homoge- 
neous in character and sympathies, utterly indifferent to 
the turmoils and ambitions of the outer-world, who regu- 
late their own lives and mould the dispositions of those 
dependent upon them according to the principles of ab- 
stract truth. The quality of university education, then, 
is determined by its object, and that object is to train not 
merely skillful practitioners, but also future professors. 
In fact, the needs of the former class are subordinated to 
the needs of the latter. In this respect, the faculty acts, 
unconsciously, in accordance with the promptings of the 
instinct of self-preservation. If thorough scientific cul- 
ture is an essential element in national life, it must be 
*22 



258 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

maintained at every cost. The slightest flaw in the con- 
tinuity of spiritual descent would be as dangerous as a 
break in the apostolic succession of the church. Every 
inducement, therefore, must be held out to young men to 
qualify themselves in season for succeeding to their pres- 
ent instructors. The lectures and other instruction must 
be adapted to train and stimulate Privat-docenten, for 
they are the ones who are to seize and wear the mantles 
of the translated Elijahs. For every professor dead or 
removed, there must be one or two instantly ready to fill 
his place. 

This is not the avowed object of the university course. 
One might pass many years in Germany without perceiv- 
ing it stated so bluntly. Yet I am persuaded that it is at 
bottom the determining factor in the constitution of uni- 
versity life. It will explain to us many incidental features 
for which there is elsewhere no analogy ; for instance, 
the sovereign contempt that all German students evince 
for everything that savors of " bread-and-butter." The 
students have caught, in this respect, the tone of their 
instructors. Even such of them as have no intention of 
becoming Privat-docenten pass three and four years of their 
life in generous devotion to study pure and simple, with- 
out casting a single forward glance to future " business." 
All thought of practical life is kept in abeyance. The 
future practitioners and the future theoreticians sit side 
by side on the same bench, fight on the same Mensury 
drink at the same Kneipe, hear the same lectures, use the 
same books, have every sentiment in common ; hence the 



WHA T IS A UNIVERSITY. 259 

perfect rapport that exists in Germany between the lawyer 
and the jurist, the pastor and the theologian, the practic- 
ing doctor and the speculative pathologist, the gymnasial 
teacher of Latin and Greek and the professed philologist. 
Hence the celerity with which innovating ideas spread in 
Germany. Let a professor in the university of Tiibin- 
gen, for instance, publish a work on some abstruse, diffi- 
cult topic, in which he threatens to overturn previous 
theories and notions. Why is it that in a month or two 
the book provokes a tempest of assent or dissent from far 
and near ? Simply because every practical man in that 
line, every lawyer, or doctor, or pastor, as the case may 
be, has been initiated so far into the theory of his pro- 
fession as to be able to detect at a glance the full pur- 
port of the new departure. Let the book contain but a 
single mis-statement of an historic fact or an established 
principle of natural science, and a hundred angry re- 
viewers pounce upon it and hold it up to public condem- 
nation. Whereas, in this country, and even in England 
also, the grossest blunders pass unchallenged. Our 
reviewers are either ignorant or indifferent. 

To repeat, the university instruction of Germany does 
not attempt to train successful practical men, unless it be 
indirectly, by giving its students a profound insight into 
the principles of the science and then turning them adrift 
to deduce the practice as well as they can from the care- 
fully inculcated theory. Its chief task, that to which all 
its energies are directed, is the development of great think- 
ers, men who will extend the boundaries of knowledge. 



26o GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

Viewed from this point, then, the two conditions, Lehr- 
freiheit and Lernfreiheit, are not only natural and proper, 
but are absolutely essential. Were the object of higher 
education merely to train " useful and honorable mem- 
bers of society," to use the conventional phrase of the 
panegyrists of the American system, the German univer- 
sities might possibly change their character. In place of 
professors free to impart the choicest results of their 
investigations, they might substitute pedagogues with 
text-books and class-books, noting down the relative 
merits and demerits of daily recitations. In place of 
students free to attend or to stay away, free to agree with 
the professor or to differ, free to read what they choose 
and to study after their own fashion, they might create a set 
of undergraduates reciting glibly from set lessons and 
regarding each circumvention of the teacher as so much 
clear gain. But the Germans know perfectly well wherein 
the value of their university education lies. They know 
that speculative thought alone has raised Germany from 
her former condition of literary and political dependence 
to the foremost rank among nations. The gain is not 
without its sacrifice. Many a young man who, under 
another method, might be drilled into a tolerable alum- 
nus, falls by the way-side through idleness and dissipa- 
tion. For one who succeeds, two or three fail. Yet the 
sacrifice is unavoidable. If German thought is to con- 
tinue in its career of conquest, if the universities are to 
remain what they are, the training-ground of intellectual 
giants, the present system of freedom must be maintained. 



WHAT TS A UNIVERSITY. 26 1 

The professor has but one aim in life : scholarly renown. 
To effect this, he must have the liberty of selecting his 
studies and pushing them to their extreme limits. The 
student has but one dclic: to assimilate his instructor's 
learning, and, if possible, to add to it. He must, there- 
fore, be his own master. He must be free to accept and 
reject, to judge and prove all things for himself, to train 
himself step by step for grappling with the great prob- 
lems of nature and history. Accountable only to him- 
self for his opinions and mode of living, he shakes off 
spiritual bondage and becomes an independent thinker. 
He must think for himself, for there is no one set over 
him as spiritual adviser and guide, prescribing the work 
for each day and each hour, telling him what he is to 
believe and what to disbelieve, and marking him up or 
down accordingly. 

The universities occupy, then, an impregnable position. 
Recruiting their tuitional forces {Lehrkr'dfte) from among 
themselves, they are independent of the outer world. 
Subjecting all young men of education, the future law- 
yers, legislators, doctors, statesmen, school-teachers to 
their own peculiar discipline, infusing into them their 
own peculiar spirit of freedom, they raise up for them- 
selves allies all over the land. It is not in my power to 
give the exact statistics either of the present Imperial 
Parliament of Germany or of any one of the national 
diets. But I am warranted in saying that a majority of 
the members of every legislative body in Germany, and 
three fourths of the higher office-holders, and all the 



262 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

heads of departments are university graduates, or have at 
least taken a partial university course, enough to catch 
the university spirit. All the controlling elements of Ger- 
man national life, therefore, have been trained to sympa- 
thize with the freedom, intellectual and individual, which 
is the characteristic of the university method. The 
nation is devotedly attached to its institutions of learn- 
ing, and will never suffer their influence or their privi- 
leges to be abated an iota. This has been shown 
repeatedly. No country in Germany can be more arbi- 
trary at times than Prussia. Yet the Prussian govern- 
ment, which has more than once stood in direct conflict 
with the university of Berlin, has always evinced its good 
sense by yielding in season. During the dreary period 
of the reign of Frederick William IV.,* an attempt was 
made, under the Eichhorn Ministry of Public Instruc- 
tion, to introduce certain innovations. The number of 
professors was to be fixed, the students were to be com- 
pelled to attend lectures, the new professors themselves 
were to be selected among the higher public officials. 
But the university stood firm, and the attempt failed 
signally. In the " conflict-period " immediately preced- 
ing the Austro-Prussian war of 1866, the university of 
Berlin, notoriously democratic, i. e., anti-squirarchical, in 
its sympathies, asserted its right of regulating its own 

• Frederick William IV. was personally a most amiable sovereign, but 
prejudiced, rather bigoted, and occasionally fanatic. Many of his views were 
visionary, not to say Ouixotic. Ranko, in his Cnrresfiondence hetineen Frede- 
rick William IV. and Bunsen^ has vainly endeavored to show the King in a 
pleasing light. 



WHA T IS A UNIVERSITY. 263 

affairs and refused point blank to take from certain of 
the professors the venias docendi for publicly expressing 
their disapproval of the acts of the Bismarck ministry. 
The German mind, with all its painful observance of 
forms and subservience to powers that be, has an ineradi- 
cable love of spiritual freedom. Long after the student 
has passed into the land of Philistia, becoming there a 
humdrum deputy tax-collector, or justice of the peace, 
or road-inspector, or village parson, the casual recollec- 
tion of his boisterously happy student-days comes over 
him like the vision of another world. It lifts him out of 
his dull, plodding round and makes him for the nonce a 
child of light. You have but to strike the university- 
chord in the breast of the first squatting Philistine in the 
first village of Suabia or Thuringia, and he springs up 
transformed like Lucifer at the touch of the spear of 
Ithuriel. He is ready to drop his drudgery, to carouse 
with you all day and all night, to tell of his exploits 
at the Kneipe and the Me?isur, his fights with peasants 
and night-watchmen, to listen with rapt attention to all 
that you may have to relate of the Georgia-Augusta or 
the Ruperta-Carolina of golden memory. The German 
instinct is not always quick, but it is always true. What- 
ever else the German may learn or unlearn, he will never 
cease to feel that the university triennium was the one 
period of his life when he was a free man ; he will never 
fail to perceive that the university itself is the stronghold 
of the German spirit, its place of refuge from ministerial 
rescripts and petty police regulations, the only safety- 



264 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

valve for its pent-up energy. We Americans, who live 
in a surfeit of freedom, as it were, can dispense perhaps 
with the libertas academica ; but the Germans know too 
well that it is the only phase in the life of the educated 
classes that prevents that life from becoming an intolera- 
ble monotony. 

II. 

Professors. 

The character of the German professor will be best 
understood by first disposing of the preliminary ques- 
tion : What is he not ? 

The professor is not a teacher, in the English sense of 
the term ; he is a specialist. He is not responsible for 
the success of his hearers. He is responsible only for 
the quality of his instruction. His duty begins and ends 
with himself. 

No man can become a professor in a German univer- 
sity without having given evidence, in one way or another, 
that he has pursued a certain line of study, and produced 
results worthy to be called novel and important. In 
other words, to become a professor, he must first have 
been a special investigator. Professional chairs are not 
conferred " on general principles," or because the candi- 
date is "a good teacher," or "well qualified to govern 
the young." Neither is there such springing about from 
one department of study to another as we observe in 
America. Each of the two thousand professors now lee- 



PROFESSORS. 265 

turing in Germany has risen from the ranks, first as gym- 
nasiast, then as student, then as P rivat-docejit in a special 
branch. As Privat-docent, he makes some discovery in 
botany, or in chemistry, or in anatomy, or publishes some 
treatise on historical, philological, or theological topics, 
that attracts attention and elicits favorable comment. 
The discoverer or the author becomes at once a man of 
mark, a candidate for the next vacant chair. Living at 
Bonn, perhaps, or Wiirzburg, he continues his work. In 
the course of a year or two, a vacancy occurs at Heidel- 
berg. The Heidelberg faculty, every one of whom has 
probably read his publications and recognized in him a 
valuable co-worker, give him a call. This he accepts? 
removes to his new field of labor, and continues there 
his investigations. Probably he is at Heidelberg only 
ausserordentlicher. But his fame spreads more and more. 
A full professorship becomes vacant at Berlin ; he is 
called once more, as ordentlicher. During these succes- 
sive stages, as student, Privat-docent, ausserordentlicher ^ 
ordentlicher Professor^ he has not made a single change 
in his line of study. He has been throughout an orien- 
talist, a classic-philologist, a mathematician, a chemist, an 
historian, or a theologian. His time and energies have 
been devoted exclusively to one limited branch of inves- 
tigation, with a view to making discoveries. He has not 
taught a single hour. He has simply " read " a course or 
two of lectures each semester, and has published three 
or four books. His personal character may be compara- 
tively unknown to the faculty that give him a call. They 
2\ 



266 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

do not regard in him the man so much as the scholar. 
It would be fatuitous to assert that personal considera- 
tions go for nothing in Germany. Many a man has been 
put into or kept out of a professorial chair because he 
had made himself agreeable or obnoxious to one or 
more of those who held the right of nomination. An 
instance occurs to me where one of the greatest scholars 
in Germany, the greatest in his own line, was barred for 
years from a call to any of the Prussian universities, 
because he had published a scathing review of a treatise 
by the leading professor in that department at Berlin. Yet 
even here the quarrel could scarcely be called personal, 
inasmuch as the two men had never met. The offender, 
in particular, was one of the mildest-mannered men in 
private intercourse. The conflict was not one of men, 
but rather of views, of principles. Each insisted that he 
himself was right and the other absurdly wrong. Mere 
personal favoritism has not much weight in university 
appointments. The utmost that it can do is to turn the 
scales where the scholarly merits of competing candidates 
are balanced, or nearly balanced; but it will not be 
strong enough to smuggle in a candidate who has not 
unquestioned abilities. 

Professorial life is quiet and uneventful. Once a pro- 
fessor, always a professor. All the ordentltchen, and 
nearly all the ausserordentlichen, draw fixed salaries from 
the university treasury, and receive in addition the fees 
paid for their lectures. A few of the most celebrated 
lecturers on law, medicine, and chemistry are in the 



PROFESSORS. 267 

receipt of incomes that, for Germany, are very good. 
Vangerow, for instance, who had always one hundred 
and fifty or two hundred hearers, each one paying not 
less than ^10 a semester, and who derived a large reve- 
nue from the sale of his works, in addition to his regular 
salary, was well off. The same may be said of the lead- 
ing men in the medical faculties of Berlin and Vienna, 
who have a large and lucrative professional practice. 
But in general a professor is a man of very limited 
means, who has to practice close economy and be con- 
tent with the plainest housekeeping. Yet the life, which 
offers so few inducements to the money-seeker, is in the 
main a pleasant one. The position itself is one of high 
dignity, especially in the smaller towns, such as Gottingen, 
Heidelberg, Bonn, Wllrzburg, and the like. The Germans, 
it is well known, are sticklers for rank. It is no small 
matter, then, to a man of cultivated tastes, to feel that, 
however humble he may seem from a pecuniary point of 
view, nobody in town can outrank him. The professors 
and their wives constitute the good society of the place. 
They can scarcely be said to set the fashion, for the Ger- 
man provincial towns are out of the world of fashion. 

The chief attraction in the professorial career, how- 
ever, is the nature of the work itself. No human lot, it 
is true, is without its trials. The life of a professor is 
anything but a bed of roses. It means severe intellec- 
tual toil from morning till evening, from manhood 
to declining years. But there is a freedom about 
it that is inexpressibly fascinating. The professor 



268 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

is his own master. Kis time is not wasted in cudg- 
eling the wits of refractory or listless reciters. His 
temper is not ruffled by the freaks or the downright 
insults of mutinous youths. He lectures upon his chosen 
subject, comments upon his favorite Greek or Roman or 
early German or Sanscrit author, expounds some recently 
discovered mathematical theorem, discusses one or an- 
other of the grave problems of history or morals, and is 
accountable only to his own conscience of what is true 
and what is false. He lectures only to those who are wil- 
ling and able to hear. He is sustained by the conscious- 
ness that his words are not scattered by the wayside, but 
that they fall upon soil prepared to receive them, and 
will bring forth new fruit in turn. His relation to his 
hearers is that of one gentleman speaking to another. 
He is not in perpetual dread of hearing himself nick- 
named, of seeing his features caricatured ; his domestic 
repose is not disturbed by midnight serenades. He ad- 
dresses his pupils as men who know perfectly well what 
they are about, and whom he must seek to enlighten or 
convince. To make the method of instruction more 
evident, we have only to picture to ourselves a man like 
George Curtius, of Leipsic, " reading " on the Odyssey. 
He begins probably with a general introduction to the 
Homeric question, spending perhaps a fortnight in setting 
forth his views and refuting the views of others. He 
then gives a detailed description of all the manuscripts 
of the poem, their comparative merits and deficiencies, 
and also the best modern critical editions. Then follow- 



PROFESSORS. 269 

ing some generally received text, he translates, either 
carefully, line by line, or else rapidly, according as the 
passage may be difificult or easy. As he goes, he makes 
historical, sesthetical, linguistic excursions. By the end 
of the semester he has probably finished only a few 
books. But his hearers, who have listened attentively 
and with minds prepared by their gymnasial training, 
have caught the essence of the poem and its relations, 
and can henceforth study it for themselves. This pre- 
supposes of course that the hearers are already good 
Greek scholars. But how is it where the language is 
Sanscrit or Persian or Gothic, something which the hear- 
ers do not know beforehand, but must commence from 
the very beginning } Here the professor generally be- 
comes a teacher, yet in a very informal way. He either 
dictates the grammar from his own manuscript, or takes 
the class through a printed work, and then sets them to 
reading. The lessons, if they can be called such, are 
unmercifully long. Ewald at Gottingen used to rush his 
Persian class through the phonology and morphology of 
that language in three or four weeks, and set them to 
translating two and three pages at a lesson. But, as my 
informant added, " We could not help learning. We were 
carried along by the genius of the teacher." I can state, 
on my own personal knowledge, that Benfey is capable 
of assigning twenty pages of irregular verbs in Sanscrit 
at a time. When a German professor teaches after this 
fashion, his pupils ??iust keep up or else drop out. There 
is no alternative. In the matter of translating, the prac- 
*23 



270 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

tice Varies. Some professors let the students read off the 
original and translate, merely correcting them when they 
make a mistake ; others do the translating themselves, 
and expect the class to copy down all that is said. How- 
ever difficult the labor of preparation may be, the pupil 
has always one consolation. He feels that he is learn- 
ing ; that he is in the hands of a master whose words are 
those of wisdom and whose enthusiasm is contagious. 
There is something intoxicating in the consciousness that 
you are putting forth your best energies, not to get good 
marks, but to catch the subtle spirit of some difficult 
language and win the silent approbation of its world- 
renowned expounder. 

As a class, the professors of Germany are hard-work- 
ers. One who has never tried the experiment might 
suppose that it is not so very difficult to lecture eight or 
ten hours a week. The mere reading-off is perfectly 
easy ; but the labor of preparing a set of lectures that 
shall be acceptable to a community so fastidious in its 
tastes, as a university, is immense. The professor being a 
specialist, it is expected of him that he shall produce 
something especially good, that he shall be up to the 
times. There are a few " old fogies," men who live on the 
reputation that they acquired twenty or thirty years ago. 
But they form a very small minority. A professor who 
has any ambition whatever, who is anxious to spare him- 
self the mortification of reading to empty benches, must 
recast his lectures continually, striking out exploded 
errors, incorporating new discoveries. The German 



FJiOFESSOHS. 271 

brain is prolific. The sight of the semi-annual catalogue 
of new^publications in Germany is enough to unhinge 
the strongest mind. The professor must keep abreast 
with the swelling tide. He must study each new work 
in his own department, at least to the extent of knowing 
what novelties it contains, and how they agree or disa- 
gree with his own views. If he does not, if he falls 
behind, some ambitious rival, some aspiring Fnvat-doce?it, 
will overtake and pass him. In this respect, the students 
are quick-witted and exacting. No sooner do they dis- 
cover that one professor represents the state of investi- 
gation as it was ten or only five ye irs ago, while another 
gives it as it actually is, than they desert in a body to the 
younger man. Herein lies the real strength of the Ger- 
man professorial system and the check upon the abuses 
of Lehrfreiheit. A professor is free to lecture upon 
what topics he chooses ; he is not compelled to modify 
his views. But if he persists in offering stale matter, in 
selecting topics that have ceased to interest, he does so 
at the peril of losing his prestige and his hearers. 

The pressure upon the professors, accordingly, is heavy 
and unremitting. But they meet it nobly. There is 
probably not another body of men in the world so keenly 
alive to the signs of the times, so thoroughly versed in 
the current literature of their special departments, so 
productive of new works. I can think of no more strik- 
ing instance than the historian Ranke. One might 
imagine that the History of the Popes^ and the History 
of the Reformation^ published thirty or forty years ago, 



272 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

were enough to entitle the author to rest on his laurels. 
Yet they were followed by a stately series of additional 
works : France in the Seventeenth Century ; England in 
the Seventeenth Century (each work comprising many vol- 
umes) ; Wallenstein ; Origin of the Seven Years' War j 
German Powers and the Confederation of Pri?ices in the 
Eighteenth Century j Correspondence of Frederick William 
IV. and Bunsen. Scarcely a semester passes without the 
announcement of a fresh work from the pen of this ven- 
erable giant, now rapidly approaching his eightieth year. 
The chief defect in the character of the German pro- 
fessors as a class is one that arises of necessity from their 
mode of life. Devoted to a narrow range of study, living 
in comparative seclusion, they are unpractical in many 
ways and intolerant of dissent. What a German profes- 
sor teaches, he teaches with an intensity of conviction 
that leaves no room for doubt or hesitancy. I should be 
loth to call this trait fanaticism. Certainly it is not the 
fanaticism of ignorance, or of one-sidedness ; the pro- 
fessor, it may be safely assumed, has looked at the ques- 
tion from every side and weighed the evidence. It is 
rather the intolerance inherent in one who is not troubled 
with doubts and who fails to understand why another 
should stumble over what is to him so plain. It springs 
from want of familiarity with the world, want of apprecia- 
tion of the complex motives that determine human 
opinion no less than human action. Man is not a purely 
intellectual being ; the individual status of each one is 
the resultant of all sorts of forces, prejudices, temptations, 



PROFESSORS. 273 



inherited sentiments. Yet things are judged in Germany 
too exclusively by the standard of pure intellect. The 
Germans neglect the glorious example set them by their 
national genius, Goethe, and overlook in their criticisms 
the individuality of the person criticized. Of course 
there are many bright exceptions, but as a rule German 
critics judge everything by some exalted, ideal standard 
of what is absolutely right and absolutely wrong. Does 
a literary production come up to this standard } Well 
and good. If it does not, — off with the fellow's head ! 
Hence the sweeping condemnations that one finds in 
every list of book reviews, the bitter literary feuds that 
have been waged and are still waged over debatable 
points where one might expect some degree of charity, 
some latitude of belief. Not all critics are professors, 
but all professors are critics. Notices and reviews of 
publications not purely belletristic or ephemeral in their 
nature are generally written by professors or docents, 
who thus give the tone. 

The relation between professor and student is, if not 
positively friendly, at least pleasant. The chief drawback 
to the lot of a professor in America, namely, police-duty 
and discipline, does not exist in Germany. The profes- 
sor, as such, has nothing to do with the university 
discipline. Unless he happens to be a member of the 
university court, and this he cannot be unless he is a 
jurist, or the rector for the time being, he is not called 
upon to pass sentence upon a student's conduct. He is 
not obliged to fritter away many hours a week of his 



2 74 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

valuable time in deciding whether Smith was really 
suffering from the measles or only shamming, whether 
Jones ought to be sent home for three months or six 
months for breaking a tutor's windows. He has nothing to 
do with the students as a body, does not know more than 
a tenth of them by sight or by name ; his dealings are 
exclusively with the few who sit in his lecture-room. If 
the exercises are of a colloquial nature, as for instance in 
the numerous /r^r^/zVa, exegetica, seminaria, and cliniques, 
he makes naturally an informal estimate of each pupil's ca- 
pacities. But he keeps no record either of their perform- 
ances or of their attendance. In consequence, neither 
professor nor student has any inducement to chicane each 
the other. They hold the relation of giver and receiver. 
A student may pass his entire term of study at the 
university without coming in personal contact with his 
professors. He may simply listen from semester to 
semester, pursue his collateral researches for himself, get 
his AnmeldiDigsbuch signed, and leave for the state- 
examination without exchanging a hundred words with 
all his teachers. In philosophy, mathematics, law, his- 
tory, this is possible. In medicine, chemistry, and the 
languages, it is not. But even where it is possible, stu- 
dents generally prefer to adopt another course. They 
seek the acquaintance of some at least of their instruct- 
ors. Where they fail, the fault will be found to- lie with 
the professor himself, who is too absorbed in his own 
researches, too uncongenial in his character, to take any 
direct, personal interest in his hearers. But many of the 



PIWFESSOjRS. 275 

professors are more liberal, making it a point to invite 
students to their houses from time to time. Some indeed 
have set re-unions, which any one in the course is free to 
attend. The conversation at these re-unions is not neces- 
sarily "shop." George Curtius, the celebrated Greek 
scholar at Leipsic, holds his re-unions, I believe, with 
great success. In the first part of the present work, I 
have spoken at length of the very pleasant relations exist- 
ing between myself and the Geheimjustizrath v. Ribben- 
tropp. Such perfect freedom of intercourse is not usual. 
Yet something of the sort may be established, by perse- 
verance, in every university. If the student is in earnest, 
he will in time induce some one of his numerous profes- 
sors to treat him as a friend and companion. 

It may not be superfluous to say a word or two con- 
cerning the ausserordentlichen professors, as distinguished 
from the ordentlichen. The ordentlichen are the full pro- 
fessors ; but it would be a grave mistake to suppose that 
the ausserordentlichen are what we style assistant-profes- 
sors. They are inferior in rank to the full professors, but 
they are not direct subordinates. The full professor 
cannot say to the other : " I reserve such and such work 
for myself. You must teach certain other branches." 
Each is independent of the other, and each is subject 
only to the full Senatus Academicus. The ausserordent- 
licher does not supplement the work of the ordentlicher^ 
but can compete directly with him. These junior pro- 
fessorships are mere rounds in the ladder of ascent ; they 
are not lieutenancies. 



276 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 



III. 
Privatdocenten. 

In the previous portion of the present work I have 
indicated briefly my opinion as to the character and 
functions of the Frivatdocent. This will not absolve me 
from the necessity of going into this feature of university 
instruction more in detail, for here more than anywhere 
else does the German university differ from other institu- 
tions of learning. 

In the first place, the docent is not a tutor. He is 
neither the tutor of England nor the tutor of America. 
At Oxford and Cambridge, the tutors* are Fellows of the 
respective colleges, and are the persons who conduct all 
the official, prescribed college instruction, either by lec- 
ture or by recitation. They are in reality college pro- 
fessors, as distinguished from the Regius professors of 
the university. The reader who wishes to inform him- 
self more fully may consult Mr. Bristed's work. What 
an American tutor is, we all know. He is, in nine cases 
out of ten, a very young man without direct preparation 
for his work and without a university vocation. His 
qualifications are only general, not special. In this way. 
Although our college tutors are usually selected among 
the most promising graduates, yet, inasmuch as the col- 
lege curriculum aims at imparting general culture and 
not special training, the most promising graduate is not 



* Not the so called " private tutors," who may or may not be Fellows. 



PRIVA TDOCENTEN. 277 

necessarily qualified for teaching any one branch in par- 
ticular. His standing is merely one of general average. 
As a matter of fact, indeed, it happens only too often 
that a tutorship of mathematics is given to a young 
graduate whose talents lie in the direction of languages, 
and vice versa. Furthermore, the tutors are usually 
recent graduates, who have not yet had time to shake off 
their undergraduate ways of thinking, and to mature.* 
But the sorest evil is the circumstance that the tutor has 
not a university vocation. By this I mean that he does 
not look upon his tutorship as the introduction to a per- 
manent mode of life, the stepping stone to a future pro- 
fessorship. Imperfectly trained as our tutors are when 
appointed, if they would only remain tutors with a view 
to becoming professors, the evil would work its own cure. 
The tutor would develop into a scholar. But, as is well 
known, the tutorship is usually a mere make-shift. Two or 
three of the best men, say in this year's class, are 
straightened in means, or have not yet decided upon their 
future profession. They accept tutorships, then, not 
because they regard college-life as their vocation, but 
because they have nothing better in prospect for the time 
being. In a year or two, one of them will abandon his 
books and enter business. Another will leave as soon as 
he has saved up money enough to carry him through 
the law school, or the theological seminary, or the medical 
school. It is easy to see that under such circumstances 

» Once more, the reader must understand that I have in view the typical 
American college. At Harvard and Yale the case is somewhat better. 

^4 



278 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

the tutor's heart cannot be in his work. He goes through 
his daily routine of recitations and draws his salary. 
Furthermore, he is not his own master, he is not free to 
decide what he shall teach, how he shall apportion his 
time. He is merely the executive officer, the lieutenant 
to carry out the peremptory orders of his superior profes- 
sor. If we add to all this the personal inconvenience of 
a tutorship, in which the incumbent has neither the free- 
dom of a student nor the dignity of a professor, but is 
called upon to do the " dirty work " of college disci- 
pline, we need not wonder that so few really able men 
are willing to serve the apprenticeship. 

The P?-ivat-doceni, on the other hand, moves in an 
altogether different sphere. In the first place, his work 
as a student is special, not general. For three or more 
years he has studied exclusively either law, or theology, 
or medicine, or philosophy in some one of its numerous 
ramifications. He has taken his doctoral degree by pass- 
ing a rigorous examination covering the entire field of his 
studies, and by presenting one or more dissertations that 
show his ability to treat certain topics in an independent, 
manly spirit of research. But, with all this, he is not yet 
a docent. The university has not yet conferred upon 
him the right to teach others, the venias docejidi. To 
obtain this, he must qualify himself still further ; he must 
habilitate himself {sich habilitireti). He waits, therefore, 
a year or two longer, pursuing his private studies with 
energy. He then prepares and publishes an elaborate 
dissertation. In connection with this, he announces ten 



PRIVATDOCENTEN. 279 

or twelve theses, or detached propositions, which he is 
prepared to defend against all comers. The reader will 
remember the theses affixed by Luther to the door of the 
church at Wittenberg. The public disputation is held in 
one of the university rooms. The professors of the can- 
didate's faculty attend. In fact, any one can attend, and, 
if he sees fit, can take part in the debate. Ordinarily 
the disputation is a mere ceremony. The candidate 
stands on the platform, like the knights of the Middle 
Ages, ready to maintain the merits of his lady-love. 
His antagonists are his friends, who have been instructed 
beforehand what to say. After four or five parleys, each 
lasting a few minutes, the antagonists admit the cham- 
pion's superiority, and the dean pronounces him a true 
and worthy knight of science. Occasionally, however, 
some one of the theses is attacked in earnest, and then 
the candidate must also defend himself in earnest. In 
my student-days at Gottingen there was a German-Pole, 

one B , a graduate of the university, a rather learned 

naturalist, who had traveled extensively. This B 

made a practice of attending disputations and bothering 
the candidates, until he came to be looked upon as a 
public nuisance. It is needless to say that the disputa- 
tion is an empty form to which no weight is attached. 
The real test of the candidate's merit is his dissertation, 
which has been read in print beforehand by each member 
of the faculty, and which must be a substantial contribu- 
tion to knowledge. 

In some universities, I believe, the doctorate and the 



28o 



GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 



venias docendi may coincide. As a specimen of an inau- 
gural dissertation, I give one defended by an acquaint- 
ance of mine at Marburg, in 1872. It consists of 
thirty-three pp. octavo, fine print, on the Evangelium 
Nicodefni in the Literature of the Occident. The table of 
contents runs as follows : 



I. The origin of the evangel. Nicodemi i 

Versions A and B 4 

II. Diffusion of the eva?igel. Nicod. in the literature 
of the Occident. 

Anglo-Saxon : Christ's Descent into Hell 12 

Cynevulf 's Christ 12 

Christ and Satan 12 

Prose translations 13 

English: Prose and poetical versions 18 

Langley, Piers Plowman 19 

Fall and Passion 20 

Wycliffe 20 

The Develis Parlament 21 

Printed editions 22 

Lyfe of Joseph of Arimathea. ... 22 

Celtic : Gaelic version 22 

Pascon agan Arluth 23 

French : Gregory of Tours 23 

Romance of the Grail 24 

Andre de Coutances 25 

Vincentius Bellovacensis 26 

Prose translations 27 



PRIVA TDOCENTEN. 



Printed editions 28 

Romance of Perceforest 28 

Prm'cnzal : Metrical version 29 

Prose translation 32 

Italian : Jacobus a Voragine 32 

Dante 33 

Prose translations 33 

St>a!i!sh : ;^;^ 

The following theses were defended : 

1. Wright's opinion (Chester Plays, I. 14, note), that 
the poem, Harrotvhig of Hell, is a controversial poem, is 
incorrect. // is a drama. But there are weightier proofs 
of this than the proofs cited by Mall (The Harrowing of 
Hell, Breslau, 187 1). 

2. The codex Bodl. Digby, 86, fol. 119, contains the 
best ancient text of the Harrowing of Hell. This manu- 
script, and not the Brit. Museum, Harl. 2,253, should 
have been taken by Mall as the basis for his edition. 

3. Mall's view that the Extractio Animarum ab Inferno 
of the Townely Mysteries and the Descent into Hell of 
the Coventry Plays are borrowed from or are modifica- 
tions of the Harrowing of Hell, is untenable. 

4. The more recent MS. of the Old-English poem, 
The Owl and the Nightingale, Jesus Coll. Ox., Arch. I, 
29, affords a text approximating more to the original 
structure of the poem than the older MS. Brit. Mus. 
Cott. Calig., A. IX. 

5. Verses 153-187 of The Owl and the Nightingale are 
to be assigned to the Nightingale and not to the Owl. 



* 



24 



282 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 



6. Germanic d has retained its integrity in Anglo-Saxon 
only in open syllables. 

7. It cannot be proved that Joseph of Arimathea was 
honored in England as a national saint prior to the Nor- 
man Conquest. The saga that Joseph preached Chris- 
tianity to the English is, therefore, not of Celtic nor of 
Anglo-Saxon origin. 

8. The Latin text of Q. Curtius Rufus De gestis Alex- 
atidri Magni was just as fragmentary at the end of the 
twelfth century as it is now. 

9. Alexander de Bernay betrays, in his share of the 
Romance of Alexander, traces of the influence of the 
Arthurian romances. 

10. General interest in the Alexander saga could have 
been awakened only by the crusades. 

11. Alliteration had not gone out of use in England in 
the thirteenth and at the beginning of the fourteenth 
century. The poets of the so called Germanic reaction 
found it still in existence, and merely purified and im- 
proved it. 

12. The discrepancy between secular and spiritual life, 
between the real and the ideal, which disorganized the 
Middle Ages, was also one of the principal causes of the 
decay of mediaeval literature. 

The university, in conferring upon one of its graduates 
the venias docendi, puts itself under no obligation to him. 
It neither gives him a salary nor guarantees him hearers. 
It merely authorizes him to announce lectures in the 



PRI VA TD CENTEN. 283 

university catalogue, and to use the university rooms for 
such classes as he may succeed in bringing together. 
His lectures are entered by his hearers in their Anmel- 
dungsbucher, and received as full equivalents in the uni- 
versity and state curriculum vitae. The university has 
proclaimed to the world that the docent is fully qualified 
to teajch. The only restriction laid upon him is that he 
shall not charge less for a course of lectures than the 
amount fixed by the professors for a like course on the 
same subject. The object of this is to prevent ignoble 
under-bidding. With the discipline of the university he 
has no more to do than the professors have. He is 
simply a candidate for a professorship, and shapes his life 
to suit his own views and purposes. 

No words of mine, I fear, will do full justice to the part 
played in the university by the Privatdocenten. They are 
the life-blood of the institution. Young men in the 
vigor of manhood, ranging in age from twenty-five to 
thirty-five, thoroughly educated, purged of the folly and the 
aimless bravado of studenthood, awakened to a sense of 
life's responsibilities but not crushed by them, neither set 
in their ways like the older professors, they are most 
delightful companions. You will find them ready to con- 
verse with you on any and every topic, and equally ready 
to join you in a walk or a drive or a Kneipe. They can 
roll Kegel and talk Gnostic philosophy in the same 
breath, startle you with their knowledge of Sanscrit roots 
and their familiarity with university slang, but all with a 
quiet, unassuming, gentlemanly air, a deference to your 



284 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

views, and a liberality of culture that are fascinating to 
the last degree. The flush of manhood is in them, the 
stirring consciousness that they are on the high road to 
scholarly fame. But they are not so far ahead that they 
look upon the rest of the world with disdain or indiffer- 
ence. Their days pass in a quiet round of study. While 
their means are usually quite limited, their desires are 
simple and easily gratified. It matters little how a man 
may live or what he may do, provided his work be agree- 
able and his surroundings congenial. The Frivatdocent 
has nearly all that goes to making life pleasant. The 
professors treat him with deference, the students look 
up to him with respect. He is already becoming, in a 
quiet way, an authority in the university world. He has 
for his next-door neighbor or his vis-a-vis a brother 
docent, a co-worker in the same line of thought, with 
whom he can hold familiar intercourse in a spirit of 
generous rivalry. The reader who wishes to view this 
phase of Hfe in its refreshing simplicity cannot do better 
than study the charming tableau presented by Gustav 
Freytag in his Lost Manuscript. 

I should give the reader a very unfair impression of 
professors and docents by suffering him to infer that they 
all injure themselves with overwork. On the contrary, 
the first thing that puzzles the newly fledged student from 
America is the leisurely, dolce far niente way in which his 
instractors seem to live. Not a few labor unremittingly, 
but the majority, I am persuaded, indulge in a good deal of 
recreation. On any fine day, from spring to autumn, one 



PRIVA TDOCENTEN. 2&5 

can see professors with their families out for an airing. 
They do not fail to attend concerts, balls, and the thea- 
tre. As for the Privatdocenten, one stumbles upon them 
everywhere and at all times. The secret of success in 
study is, in the first place, to be well trained, in the next 
place, to limit the field of study, and finally to work by 
rule. These three elements are combined in Germany to 
perfection. A German works about as he fights ; he tries 
to keep cool and to avoid overshooting the mark. What 
cannot be done to-day, may be done to-morrow, provided 
one is on the right course and does not desist altogether. 
A rest of half a day or even a whole day does good 
rather than harm. The German university men accom- 
plish a prodigious amount of work, but they do it by 
planning intelligently, by carefully forecasting ways and 
means, by availing themselves of the countless side-helps 
that each man can get from his co-workers in a land 
where labor is so minutely subdivided, and by adding 
here a little, there a little, until the whole becomes 
symmetrical and complete in all its parts. Viewed from 
day to day, the progress may seem slow. But if you only 
have the patience to wait six months or a year, you will 
find something grand in its proportions and original in 
its conception. 

The office of the Privatdocent^ whatever it may be in 
theory, is in practice twofold. He mediates between 
professor and student. He stimulates and helps his stu- 
dent-friends by advising them in their choice of lectures 
and books, and by mapping out their studies for them. 



286 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

He gives them hints as to examination, or the best way 
of approaching professors, and also private instruction. 
On the other hand, he keeps the professors up to the 
mark by competition. What should we say if the senior 
professor of mathematics in some American college con- 
tented himself with the Calculus, while his aspiring tutor 
announced in the college catalogue a special course in 
Quaternions } We should say that it looked as though 
the tutor were trying to steal the professor's thunder, and 
that it could not be tolerated because subversive of order. 
Yet this is what every Privatdocent does, or tries to do. 
His sole aim in life is to cause himself to be regarded as 
one who knows quite as much as, if not more than, the 
nominal professor. No one will assert, of course, that a 
young man of thirty or thirty-five is likely to be better 
informed than a professor who has had the start by 
twenty years and more. Yet the mere effort to compete 
does credit to the Privatdocent. It quickens his faculties, 
it gives point to his studies. It does credit also to the 
German system. Under that system, no professor, how- 
ever celebrated, has a right to rest from his labors, to say : 
My work is done, there is nothing more to learn. The 
university can be imagined as arguing in this wise : We 
shall become a dead body, if new ideas be not set forth 
in our lecture-rooms as fast as they arise. If the profes- 
sor is not equal to the task, here is Dr. So and So, who is 
evidently a man of the times. Let us leave the professor 
to vegetate in harmless indolence, and make the Dr. his 
colleague, else we shall lose our students. 



STUDENTS. 287 



IV. 

Students. 

How shall one portray successfully in words the linea- 
ments of that unique variety of the human species known 
as the German student ? Although myself a student for 
over three years, associating more or less intimately with 
my fellow-students, I must plead inability to do better 
than sketch a very imperfect silhouette. The difficulty 
lies in the circumstance that there is no analogy between 
the German student and the American undergraduate, 
nothing that can help both the reader and the writer to 
make a fair comparison. The American collegian is — 
pardon me the expression — simply a school-boy of larger 
growth. He may be old enough to luxuriate in a mous- 
tache, muscular enough to row in the Saratoga regatta, 
eloquent enough to carry off some gold medal, studious 
enough to be regarded by his associates as a prodigy of 
learning. But, with all that, he is none the less a school- 
boy. From the day of his matriculation to the day of his 
graduation, he is under surveillance more or less in- 
trusive, he pursues a prescribed routine of study, his 
attendance is noted down, his performances are graded, 
his conduct is taken into the account, his parents or 
guardians receive monthly or term reports. In other 
words, during the entire period of four years the collegian 
is made to feel that he is looked upon as one incapable 
of judging and acting for himself. His college life is a 
mere continuation of his school life. The sphere is a 



288 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

trifle larger, it is true, the teachers are abler men, there is 
a greater variety of character among his associates, yet, 
in all substantial respects, he is still a school-boy, he 
learns set tasks. Whereas the German student is the 
direct opposite. When the young Primaner receives 
from the gymnasium his certificate of " ripeness " for the 
university, he knows that his school-boy days are over, 
that he has done forever with lessons, marks, grades, sur- 
veillance, courses of instruction. He is a young man free 
to select his studies, his professors, his rooms, his hours 
of work, to regulate the entire course of his life, to be 
what his own energy and talents may make him. Possibly 
he is not any older than the Freshman, possibly not any 
better prepared than if he had just left Andover or Exeter 
or the Boston Latin school. Nevertheless he is an alto- 
gether different creature. The shaping of his destiny lies in 
his hands, and his alone, and he feels it. If he succeeds, the 
merit is due to himself; if he fails, he has no one but him- 
self to blame. He knows that neither rector nor dean 
nor professors will trouble themselves about him, will 
care whether he attends regularly or " cuts " regularly, 
whether he improves or wastes his time, whether he has a 
Mensur every week, whether he goes to bed sober or 
intoxicated. He is a young man, and can look after him- 
self. Should he make himself obnoxious by a breach of 
public order and decency, he will be summoned before 
the university court, tried as every culprit is tried, accord- 
ing to the forms of justice, and punished impartially, 
without favor and without shedding of tears. 



STUDENTS. 289 



It will be impossible to understand the character of 
the German student without making this element of moral 
freedom and direct personal responsibility the starting- 
point in our investigations. In no other way shall we be 
able to account for such extremes of lawlessness on the 
one hand, such models of industry on the other. Both 
idleness and industry display an intensity, so to speak, 
that we shall look for in vain in an American college. 
The " rowers " do nothing but row, the industrious do 
nothing but study. Young Graf von., whose position in life 
is fixed, whose allowance is ample, feels that he is not 
sent to the university to study, but to while away his 
minority. What does it matter to him, whether the pro- 
fessors are dull or interesting, whether the Pandects were 
the work of Justinian or of Julius Caesar .? The Graf is 
a man of some education, perhaps. A goodly amount of 
Latin and Greek and mathematics has been drummed 
into him at the gymnasium or the Ritter-akademie. But 
he does his best to shake off the burden and to enjoy life, 
after his fashion, with other like-minded young scions. 
He becomes reckless, and would degenerate into a bully 
but for one wholesome check. He has to fight. Side by 
side with the son of the nobleman is the son of the bour- 
geois, aping the follies of the upper classes, wasting his 
father's hard-earned gains, committing all sorts of ex- 
travagances, yet sturdy, clear-headed, and hard-fisted. 
Not more than one Mensur is needed to teach the noble- 
man that he is no match for the plebeian in fighting. It is 
the old story, re-told, of the Cavaliers and the Roundheads. 



290 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

Nearly all the good Schlager in Gottingen came from the 
middle and lower classes. The very best one, I believe, 
was the son of a country parson. University life has cer- 
tainly this one merit : it puts all its members on a footing 
of perfect equality.* Distinctions of rank vanish on the 
Mensur and in the lecture-room. The university court, 
in its praise be it said, knows no respect of persons. The 
son of the humblest barber or shop-keeper will get 
nothing less than justice, the son of the count or baron 
nothing more. 

I have said that the " rowers " do nothing but row, the 
industrious do nothing but study. This is a blunt way 
of putting the antithesis, and needs some qualifications 
and restrictions. Those who idle away their time do so 
without fear and without restraint. Their attendance at 
lectures is merely nominal. In most instances, the habit 
of idleness, once acquired, is not shaken off. But in 
very many instances, it is. To understand this point 
fully, it will be necessary to look more closely into the 
student's antecedents. As a general thing, the young 
Fuchs enters the university overworked. He has been 
kept at school for eight or ten years, drilled unmercifully, 
watched sharply, and held in strict subordination. He 
cannot obtain his certificate of " ripeness " until he has 
complied with all the school requirements. The final 
examination is conducted under the supervision of state 
officials. All at once the pressure is removed, he is free 

*The reader cannot do better than study, in Freytag's Lost Manuscript^ the 
spirited description of the Crown Prince's duel, the causes that led to it, and 
the results. 



STUDENTS. 291 

to enter the university, becomes his own master. The 
first effect of this newly acquired freedom is to unsettle 
him. He changes his place of residence, forms new asso- 
ciations, is brought in contact with unwonted tempta- 
tions. A new life has dawned upon him. He hardly 
knows which way to turn his steps, every prospect seems 
so fair. He joins probably some Corps or Verbifidung, 
thereby subjecting himself to the direct influence of men 
more experienced than himself. It becomes his ambition 
to rival them in all that they undertake. His new friends 
are so agreeable, the new life is so fascinating in its free- 
dom, that he glides along in a round of pleasure and 
excitement. He is undergoing the process called in 
German ausrasen, by us, "sowing wild oats." But if 
there is in him the making of a man, the dream will not 
last forever. By the end of the first semester perhaps, 
and certainly by the end of the second, an awakening 
will come. The Fucks is no longer a Fuchs, but a Bursch. 
He perceives that what was once pleasure has begun to 
pall, that he has wasted valuable time and opportunities. 
Yet his case is not hopeless. Energy and self-denial will 
make the loss good. He therefore limits his Kneipeti to 
one evening a week, discards Fru/ischoppen, attends lec- 
tures diligently, turns a deaf ear to invitations for a walk 
or a drive, keeps as much as possible out of the way of 
a challenge, brushes the cobwebs from his books, and 
begins his studies in earnest. His previous dissipation 
has served to sharpen his wits and to give his character a 
somewhat firmer set. 



292 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

Some few students lose no time at the university. They 
pass from their preliminary to their special training with- 
out a break. Yet they are less numerous than one might 
suppose, and they do not always make the best workers 
in the long run. Taking the German method of educa- 
tion just as it is, we may be tempted to regard Ausrasen 
as after all not an unmixed evil. The admission need not 
imply sympathy with dueling and inordinate drinking. 
The question can be put in this shape. Is it not desira- 
ble that the boy who has been subjected to severe and 
protracted schooling should take a year or a half-year for 
rest .'* As Secundaner and Prbnaner he has been worked 
up to his full capacity. He has had scarcely a day outside 
of the brief vacations, that he could call his own. Before 
taking up in seriousness his life-study, is it not well in 
him to let his mind lie fallow a while .'' The shiftlessness, 
the bravado that prevail among German F'iichse are, I am 
persuaded, nothing more than the misdirection of this 
healthful instinct to snatch a brief respite, to look around 
and enjoy life during the interval between spells of severe 
labor. The roll of professors and docents of any German 
university will be found, on examination, to contain the 
name of many a man who was a wild student in his first 
and second semester. The professions will reveal even a 
larger percentage. No less a man than Prince Bismarck 
himself was among the wildest of the wild at Gottingen 
thirty years ago. 

The German students exhibit such varieties of charac- 
ter that it would be useless to attempt to reduce them to 



STUDENTS. 293 

one category and label them thus and so. They have 
only one trait in common : individuality of thought and 
freedom of action. Such a sentiment as " class-feeling " 
does not exist among them. In America, where the same 
set of young men recite side by side in the same recita- 
tion-rooms for four years, it is perhaps only natural that 
the feeling of class unity should exist as it does. It is 
not in itself an evil, although liable to grave perversion. 
Three fourths of the public disorder in our colleges are 
due to it in one or another shape. In Germany, it 
simply does not exist. There are no courses of study, 
no classes. Even those who are pursuing the same 
general studies do not take the same lectures in the 
same order. Among those who attended Herrmann's 
lectures on Church Law with myself were men who had 
heard the Pandects at Heidelberg, with Vangerow, or at 
Munich, with Windscheid, or at Leipsic, with Wachter. 
Nearly every German student changes his university 
once, many of them more than once. Comparatively few 
pass their entire triennium or quadrennium in the same 
place. This is not mere vagrancy. It arises from the 
laudable desire to hear the best men in each department. 
Its effect is also beneficial. It gives breadth and variety 
of culture. The South German, by removing to Gottin- 
gen or Bonn or Berlin, shakes off his superfluity of broad 
good-nature, becomes less garrulous and more earnest. 
The Prussian or Hanoverian at Heidelberg or Tubingen, 
on the other hand, is toned down and softened by the 
charms of southern Gemuthlichkeit. 

*25 



294 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

The student lives by himself and selects his com- 
panions according to his own taste. Even if he is not a 
member of a Corps or a Verbindung, he belongs to some 
less formal association that holds its meetings regularly. 
The members are not necessarily of the same faculty ; 
one may be a chemist, another a philologian, another a 
jurist. The only bond of union is that of congeniality. 
There are no literary clubs,* no debating societies among 
the students. Reunions are for social pleasure, not 
for work ; still less for mere displays of questionable elo- 
quence. Study is something that each man is supposed 
to attend to in the seclusion of his own room. When he 
meets his friends, he lays aside " shop." Politics, in the 
English and American use of the word, are unknown in 
the German university. The time when the students 
were political conspirators has gone by, the time when 
they may take a part in the liberal discussion of political 
questions of the day has not yet arrived. Perhaps it will 
never arrive. What prompted the conspiracies and insur- 
rections among the students during the period of the 
Reaction was a sense of the gross injustice and glaring 
incompetency of the Metternichian era, rather than a 
deep-seated preference for a republican form of govern- 
ment or a clear perception of the ways and means of 
reform. The Germans as a nation do not take an absorb- 
ing interest in political questions. Now that the petty 
mishre of the old Confederation has been swept away, and 

* There were literary clubs at one time, e. g., the celebrated GOttingen 
Hainbund^ but they seem to have gone out of fashion. 



STUDENTS. 295 

the country placed under the control of one permanent 
dynasty, the Germans are satisfied to let well enough 
alone. The only subject that is in the least degree likely 
to arouse them is the conflict between Church and State. 
Yet even this important issue cannot be said to have 
agitated the students, and for a very obvious reason. 
They all think alike on the point. The students. Catho- 
lic no less than Protestant, are liberals. The Ultramon- 
tanes do not attend the universities, even the paritetic 
and purely Catholic universities, in numbers, for they feel 
that the general tendency of higher education is against 
them. The reader will remember that the leaders of the 
Old-Catholic movement in South Germany are the mem- 
bers of the theological faculty of Munich. The priests 
of the Catholic church are, at least have been until now, 
educated at the so called convicta and seminaries, rather 
than at the gymnasiums and universities. Indeed, the 
express object of the recently adopted Church Laws in 
Prussia is to force all candidates for orders into the 
gymnasium and university. Those laws provide that 
henceforth no one shall be admitted to orders or receive 
a parochial charge who has not passed through the full 
gymnasial and university course. The influence of uni- 
versity life is so liberalizing that the Ultramontane party 
meets with little favor from students, even from those of 
the Catholic faith. The young man who is made to feel 
every day for upwards of three years of his life that he 
must weigh all things and judge for himself, will not be 
apt to fall on his knees before the dogma of infallibility. 



296 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

I have heard the most conflicting opinions expressed 
by Americans as to the intellectual ability of German 
students. It is not, under any circumstances, an easy 
matter to gauge with exactness the capacities of a class 
of young men numbering many thousands. One is liable 
to blunder by attempting to generalize from the imper- 
fect data furnished by the very few with whom one may 
come in direct contact. The difficulty is increased, 
moreover, by the circumstance that the German mode of 
study affords so few opportunities for testing merit. 
Under the American system, where each student recites 
in public from day to day for years, both his fellow-stu- 
dents and his professors know perfectly well what he is 
capable of. Whereas, in Germany, the most promising 
scholars may pass unnoticed amid the crowd of listeners. 
There is absolutely but one way of eliciting information, 
namely, through personal intercourse, and that way is, 
from its very nature, limited and imperfect. 

In the first place, the German student is older than 
the American. The average age of admission of this 
year's graduating class at Yale was eighteen. This is for 
America a high average. The German rarely attends the 
university before his twentieth year. Many students are 
even older. In the next place, the German is much more 
thoroughly trained. On this point, I must beg the reader 
to dismiss all prejudice and look the facts full in the face. 
That we have a few good schools, is a truism which 
nobody will deny. But that we have not any thing like 
a school-system, by virtue of which all young men, 



STUDENTS. 297 



wherever they may live, can be trained for their higher 
education, is equally true. I except the eastern part of 
Massachusetts, where wealth and intelligence are so 
diffused that almost every district has an excellent pre- 
paratory school. But where, I venture to ask, outside of 
the eastern part of Massachusetts shall we find the match 
for a German gymnasium 1 Is there in the entire State 
of New York a single school, public or private, that can 
show a programme like the following : 

Religion: a. Catholic. Martin's Manual, The Church 
and Her History, b. Protestant. Bek's Exposition of 
the Book of Acts. 

Latiti : Cicero's Catiline Orations, 1-4, pro Milone, pro 
Ligario ; Virgil's yEneid, Books 3, 5 and 6, and parts of 
9 and 10 ; Cicero's Tusculan Disput. ; Tacitus, Book 
3, and parts of 2 and 4 ; Horace, Odes, Books 3 and 4 ; 
Epistles, Book i ; Satires, Book i. 

Greek : Xenophon's Anabasis, Book 7 ; Herodotus, 
Schnitzer's Chrestomathy; Homer, Odyssey, i, 2, 15, 16, 
17,18, parts of 20, 21, 22; Sophocles, Antigone ; Demos- 
thenes, 1-3 Olynthiacs; Philippics, i; Iliad, 7, 9, 21, 
22, 24; Plato's Apology and Crito. 

Hebrew : Grammar, Mezger's Exercises ; Gesenius' 
Syntax ; Psalms ; Isaiah. 

French : Syntax, according to Eisenmann ; Grauer's 
Chrestomathy. 

English : Gantler's Chrestomathy ; Shakespeare's Julius 
Caesar. 

German : History of Old and Mediaeval Literature, 



298 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 



with Scholl's Specimens ; Nibelungenlied ; Grammar of 
Middle High German ; Schiller's Wallenstein read and 
explained. 

History : Piitz, Roman History ; Piitz, Middle Ages. 

Physical Geography. 

Chemistry : Metalloids and Metals. 

Physics : Brettner's Manual. 

Natural History : Mineralogy and Geology ; Soma- 
tology and Anthropology. 

Mathe?natics : Quadratic Equations ; Diaphantic Equa- 
tions ; Arithmetical and Geometrical Progression ; Ge- 
ometry. 

Archceology : Homerica ; Greek and Roman Antiqui- 
ties. 

Mythology: Stoll's Greek and Roman Mythology. 

Philosophy : Psychology and Logic. 

Perhaps the reader thinks that this must be some 
" crack " school in Berlin or Leipsic. Not at all. It is the 
programme for the gymnasium of a town of which he has, 
in all probability, never heard. If he consults his Gazet- 
teer, he will find that Ellwangen is a small town in Wiirt- 
temberg, forty-five miles N. E. of Stuttgart. Population, 
in 1857, 3,000. At the present day, probably 5,000. Yet 
we find this obscure Franconian town, off the highroad 
of commerce and culture, giving its children the best of 
training. I have quoted the programme only for the 
upper classes of the gymnasium proper, and have omitted 
the Realclasseii. 

As an offset, let me submit the following programme 



STUDENTS. 299 

from North Germany. As Prussia is the centre of Ger- 
many, so Brandenburg is the centre of Prussia. In the 
Prima of the Rittcr-Akademie of Brandenburg were pur- 
sued, during the year ending Easter, 1872, the following 
studies. 

Religion^ 2 hours a week. Gospel of St. John, in the 
original. History of the Mediaeval Church. Epistle to 
the Galatians, in the original. History of the Modern 
Churches. 

German, 3 h. Themes. Resume of German national 
literature from Opitz to Lessing. Also, reading of Rich- 
ard II. and Macbeth. Exercises in Logic. 

Latifi, 8 h. Cicero pro Plancio. (In private, Quin- 
tilian X). Tacitus, Annal. XII-XV. Exercises and 
Themes. Extemporalia. Horace, Odes Bk. II. and III. 
Selected Satires and Epistles. 10-12 Odes memorized. 

Greek, 6 h. Sophocles, Electra. Thucydides II, 1-64. 
(In private, Homer). Plato, Protagoras. (In private, 
Thucydides, IV). Exercises and extemporalia. 

Hebrew, 2 h. Selections from Psalms and Samuel. 
Hebrew doctrine of forms, entire, according to Gese- 
nius. Selections from the Snytax. 

French, 3 h. Review of Grammar. Oral translations 
into French, from Ploetz' Exercises. Bazancourt's Cri- 
mean Expedition read. 

History, 3 h. Review of Ancient History. History 
of the World from 1715-1789. 

Mathematics, 4 h. Trigonometry and Stereometry. 

Physics, 2 h. Mechanics. Electricity, and Magnetism. 



300 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

The final examination at the gymnasium consists of 
oral and written reviews (the examination proper), and 
of themes prepared at home. I give specimens of the 
themes set by the Ritter-Akadefnie. 

German. What are the permanent merits of Klopstock 
in German Literature ? 

Latin. Quam fuerit funestum aim ceteris Graeciae civi- 
tatibus turn Atheniensibus bellu7?i Feloponnesiacum argumen- 
tis comprobetur. 

Mathematics. By revolving an isosceles triangle and 
the inscribed circle, you produce a cone and a sphere. 
What are the proportions of the two bodies in respect to 
their superficial area and their solid contents ? 

A few words of explanation are needed. Hebrew is 
obligatory only upon those who intend to study theology. 
By extetuporalia are meant extempore translations made 
during the school-hour. The teacher reads aloud from 
some German work, and the pupils translate as well as 
they can into Latin, without the aid of grammar or 
dictionary. 

"By privatim reading is meant this. The teacher assigns 
to the pupil portions of a certain classic author, to be 
read at home but not recited upon in school. 

Neither the gymnasium at Ellwangen nor the Ritter- 
Akademie of Brandenburg can be regarded as occupying 
the foremost rank among German schools. The gym- 
nasiums at Berlin, Cologne, Leipsic, Frankfort, and the 
other large cities, and the celebrated institution at 
Schulpforta are superior in the quality of their teachers 



STUDENTS. 301 

and their pupils. The Ritter-Akademie, as the catalogue 
shows, is a school for the Brandenburg nobility. 

In 1863, when the population of Prussia (before the 
annexation of Hanover and Hesse-Cassel) was 18,000,000, 
/'. ^., less than half the German Empire, there were 172 
gymnasiums in Prussia, giving instruction to 45,000 
pupils, and 83 Realschulen^ giving instruction to 20,000 
pupils. The difference between the gymnasium and the 
Realschide is that the latter teaches less Latin and com- 
paratively little Greek, but goes deeper into history, 
modern languages, mathematics, and the natural sciences. 
I have no recent statistics in my possession, but I shall 
probably not go very wide of the mark in stating that in 
the German Empire of to-day there are between five and 
six hundred schools of the first order, instructing nearly 
150,000 pupils on what Matthew Arnold has called so 
happily " the higher plane " of education. 

At Ellwangen there were forty-five pupils pursuing the 
studies that I have mentioned. These pupils were taught 
by eight instructors. In the Prima of the Ritter-Akademie 
there were nineteen pupils taught by five instructors. 
These figures show clearly that the German system is one 
of small classes, where the instruction can be brought 
home to the pupil. 

Finally, there is an additional feature in the German 
school system which has been overlooked even by so 
careful an observer as Matthew Arnold. I allude to the 
circumstance that a German seldom changes his school. 
He is kept at the same institution from his tenth or even 
26 



302 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

his eighth year to his twentieth. He has a chance to 
master one set of text-books thoroughly, to advance 
regularly, year by year, in carefully measured progression. 
He wastes no time by sudden changes either of books or 
of teachers. Besides, even should a boy be transferred 
from one gymnasium to another, he would find in his 
new school the same quality of instruction and a similar 
corps of instructors. 

It does not come within the scope of this work to 
exhaust the subject of German schools. The reader who 
wishes to inform himself more thoroughly may consult 
Matthew Arnold's treatise. I touch upon the schools 
only as they influence the universities, in the endeavor to 
make the reader appreciate more accurately the differ- 
ence between the American undergraduate and the 
German student. It is perfectly true that no amount of 
system will atone for want of brains. Many a young man 
who has been pushed through the gymnasium by the aid 
of persistent and kindly disposed teachers will drop as 
soon as the momentum is spent. Sluggish, inert in him- 
self, he becomes at the university a mere dawdler. His 
thin plating of knowledge wears off little by little, until 
the ignoble metal beneath appears in all its worthless- 
ness, and you wonder how any such fellow could evei 
have been pronounced fit for a university. Yet is Ger- 
many the only country in the world that exhibits this 
phenomenon of running to seed ? Does not every Ameri- 
can college graduate men who know actually less than 
they did on entering .? 



STUDENTS. 303 



The only just way of comparing two systems is to 
take them at points widely apart. The idler of Germany, 
I am confident, has forgotten twice as much as the idler 
of America, the industrious student knows twice as much 
as the industrious undergraduate, and the future scholar 
of Germany is a man of whom we in America have no 
conception. He is a man who could not exist under our 
system, he would be choked by recitations and grades. 
What he studies, he studies with the devotion of a poet 
and the trained skill of a scientist. The idea of compet- 
ing, of putting forth all his energies in a trial of skill after 
the fashion of the English university examination, has 
never occurred to him. He studies to learn, to master 
what has been done before him, and to contribute if pos- 
sible to the growth of knowledge. He reads with a view 
to permanent results, not to examinations. To justify 
these assertions, it will be necessary to define more pre- 
cisely what I mean by " knowledge." Life in Germany 
is not so free as in America. It presents fewer elements 
of excitement, moves rather in a prescribed routine. It 
does not exhibit a like frantic haste after fame and 
wealth. The newspaper press, vegetating rather than 
flourishing under humdrum circumstances, is deficient 
in everything that we call enterprise. Any one of our 
great dailies gives its readers more and better reading 
than the entire press of Berlin. The Germans do not 
look upon their newspapers as daily pabulum. The Ger- 
man boy, although well informed, grows up in compara- 
tive ignorance of the great social and political movements 



304 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

around him. He knows much less of the world, his mind 
is not stocked with scraps of news gathered from papers 
and magazines. The American boy, to use an Ameri- 
canism, is much more wide-awake. He can tell you 
what has happened yesterday in China or Africa, what is 
likely to happen to-morrow in South America. Yet we 
can scarcely call this knowledge, in the highest sense of 
the term. It is rather allotria, the unsifted, unarranged, 
undigested materials of knowledge. What the German 
gymnasiast knows at all, he knows well, because he knows 
it as an item of general training, and in its relations to 
other things. For instance, although Germany and France 
are next-door neighbors, the gymnasiast does not watch 
from day to day, from month to month, the political con- 
vulsions at Paris and Versailles. Yet he has probably 
read with a good deal of care the history of France from 
its origin, and is in a position to form a correct judgment 
as to what these convulsions really betoken. If you lay 
before him the events as they transpire from time to time, 
he will understand them, because he will view them as the 
present out-cropping of forces which he has traced in 
their operation for centuries. 

By way of presenting the average German student 
more in the concrete, I take the liberty of drawing the 
portrait of the one whom I knew best. He came from a 
small town in the Havtz mountains, a town almost identi- 
cal in size and general character with Ellwangen. My 

friend H , who was my teacher in German and also 

for a while in Latin and Greek, was a young man of 



STUDENTS. 305 

twenty-three or twenty-four, tall, large of frame but not 
muscular, and in excellent health. His spirits were in- 
variably good. He was a thorough Latin and Greek 
scholar. I was particularly struck with his proficiency in 
writing Greek, He wrote it very rapidly, in an easy, 
current hand, using abbreviations not unlike the ligatures 
in the editions of the sixteenth century. In short, he had 
a Greek hand^ and did not print each letter separately as 
an American does. He filled in the accents after writing, 
as an American or Englishman crosses his t V and dots 
his Vs. He seemed to have the entire Greek grammar as 
well as the Latin at his tongue's end, he was never at a 
loss for rule and exception. He had studied Hebrew 
enough at the gymnasium to be able to read the Old 
Testament with the vowel points. He had also studied 
Sanscrit under Benfey at the university, and could read 
the epic poetry with fluency. In addition to this, he was 
a fair scholar in medieeval German, and was well versed 
in ancient and mediaeval history. To crown all, he was 
an excellent pianist, sang well, and could drink his five 
Schoppefi of beer every evening and rise to his work the 
next morning as fresh as though he had gone to bed fast- 
ing. He was by no means a book-worm, but enjoyed 
life as it passed. For the subject of his doctoral disser- 
tation he selected the Greek of Euripedes. As the classic 
student will know, the texts of this author have come to 
us in a very corrupt state. My friend, not content with 
studying the texts themselves, employed his leisure time 
for an entire semester in collating stray fragments of 
*26 



3o6 GERMAN UNl'VERSITIES. 

the great dramatist scattered through the writings of 
other authors, and especially the quotations contained in 
patristic Greek. Although not competent to venture an 

opinion on such a subject, I have no doubt that H 

made a very exhaustive and scholarly dissertation. Yet 
he was not a "first-rate." I have known more than one 
student who was decidedly his superior in breadth of 
learning and grasp of intellect. Graded after the Ameri- 
can fashion, he would have ranked as tenth in a class of 
one hundred. He was a man, not of genius, but of talent 
and industry, one who has profited by his opportunities 
without foregoing the minor pleasures of society. From 
this class of students Germany recruits her gymnasium 
teachers. 

Peihaps the reader would like to know what I mean 
by a " first-rate." In my third semester I became ac- 
quainted with a young Dr. B , who had been out of 

the university three years. He was then barely in his 
twenty-sixth year. In addition to his uncommon attain- 
ments in Greek and Latin, he had passed a year in 
France, and two years in England. He spoke English 
and French with perfect fluency and precision, and could 
maintain a conversation in Italian and Spanish. He was 
a favorite pupil of Ewald in Persian, Hebrew and Arabic, 
and, as Benfey assured me, was the most promising young 
Sanscrit scholar of Germany. Soon after I made his 
acquaintance, he was appointed professor of Oriental 
Languages at Queen's College, Bombay, through the influ- 
ence of Max Miiller. In less than a year after entering 



STUDENTS. 307 

upon the duties of his professorship, he inaugurated the 
publication of a long and carefully edited series of valu- 
able Sanscrit texts. He was, in all respects, what we call 
a " driver," a man who knows no rest. 

If opinions differ concerning the intellectual ability of 
German students, they differ even more widely concern- 
ing their manners. On this point, I am disposed to 
accuse my countrymen of a touch of prejudice. Disap- 
pointed in not finding the German student the exact 
counterpart of themselves, they are averse to associating 
with him freely. They overlook the circumstance that 
student-life is emphatically the period of fermentation, 
that the scum and froth now on the surface will soon dis- 
appear, leaving the clear, sparkling wine. German ways 
are not our ways. Many things that we look upon as 
indispensable in the deportment of a gentleman are sec- 
ondary matters to a German, while he on the other hand 
views with disfavor much that we regard as permissible. 
Intercourse between the German and the American 
becomes, then, a question of mutual forbearance. Each 
party has to make some concession, and the German — 
to his credit be it confessed — is the readier of the two 
to waive a portion at least of his prejudices. 

For one, I never had any trouble in dealing with my 
fellow-students. If, in returning to my room in the eve- 
ning, I was met by a party of " rowers " bent on picking 
a quarrel, I had only to intimate my nationality to pass 
unmolested. In fact, even that was not usually neces- 
sary. In a small university town, like Gottingen, foreign- 



3o8 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

ers become known as such. Not infrequently I have 
heard one man soberer than his companions say : " O, 
pshaw ! That's an American. What's the use of wasting 
words on him." Yet that was German student-life at his 
worst. In the ordinary intercourse at public dining 
tables and in the lecture-rooms, I have always found the 
same ceremonial politeness that men of the world show 
to one another. The men with whom I read the Insti- 
tutes of Gains and of Justinian were Corps students ; my 
associates in Dr. Maxen's Exegeticum were Wilde. The 
one set was fully as agreeable as the other. In fact, the 
Corps students were a trifle more easy and genial in their 
manners. One who is desirous of making acquaintances 
will have no difficulty. He will find many bright young 
fellows, well educated, limited in their means, thoroughly 
in earnest with their studies, but affable and entertaining, 
out-spoken in their opinions, somewhat positive, but not 
apt to give or to take offense. In one respect they differ 
from young Americans. They do not indulge in sportive 
demonstrations of familiarity. Even Dutzbruder do not 
slap one another on the back. The student, indeed the 
German in general, seems to have adopted the motto, 
Noli ?ne tangere. Even one who is brusque in his man- 
ner, not to say uncouth, will never presume upon per- 
sonal liberties. This, I suspect, is the result of the indi- 
viduality engendered by culture. However intimate 
men may be, each seeks to maintain his individuality. 
Much that we regard as " fun " would be looked upon by 
the German as an unpardonable want of dignity and self- 



STUDENTS. 309 

respect. The student wishes to be just what he is, and 
will not give up an iota of his idiosyncracies for the dear- 
est friend on earth. You may argue earnestly, even 
heatedly with him ; that is only manly. But you cannot 
venture to ridicule him, for that would be assuming supe- 
riority and treating him as a boy. 

The cardinal sin of the students is excess in drinking. 
They all drink, and nearly all drink too much. Yet it 
should be borne in mind that this vice is not confined to 
the students. Germany is preeminently a land of free 
living. Everybody drinks as a matter of course. The 
students merely push the custom to an extreme, by their 
Saufcomment. On the other hand, what they drink is 
much less injurious to health than the gin and whisky 
of America. Although beer and wine produce temporary 
intoxication, they do not waste the tissues and nervous 
energy. Many a man who has kneiped persistently 
through his university course, and barely passed the 
state-examination, settles down into an orderly, sober 
citizen. Germany is a land of drinking, but, paradoxical 
as it may seem, it is not a land of drunkards. The 
average American village can exhibit more hopeless 
sots, men saturated to the core and reeking with alco- 
holic fumes, than are to be found in a large German city, 
like Hanover or Leipsic. 

Much, if not all, that is crude, chaotic, absurd, repell- 
ant in the student's composition will disappear in the 
course of time. I rest this belief upon the teachings of 
history. Not farther back than fifty or sixty years, the 



3IO GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

Student was indeed a lawless creature. Who has not 
heard of the madcap revelries, the follies and Reign of 
Terror of the Jenensians ? Greatly as the dukes of Wei- 
mar loved and favored their university, they were forced 
to put down more than one outbreak at the point of the 
bayonet and sabre. In the last century, the students of 
Jena not infrequently fought their duels in the open air, 
on a platform in the market place in front of the town- 
hall. Intoxicated students reeled through the streets at 
all hours, insulting peasants and women, lording it over 
the Philistine. The history of the universities through- 
out the eighteenth, seventeenth, sixteenth and fifteenth 
centuries is a record of violence, bloodshed, and de- 
bauch. The country itself was in a state of transition. 
The Reformation had emancipated the German spirit 
from the shackles of tradition, the Thirty Years' War 
turned brother against brother, land against land. The 
dreary epoch of Pennalisinus., an elaborate system of fag- 
ging, set in. Letters and breeding seemed to have 
passed from the memory of men. From 1648 to 1749, 
the year of Goethe's birth, the country lay prostrate, ex- 
hausted, as one dead. When the revival came under 
Bodmer and Breitinger, Lessing, Goethe, Herder and 
Schiller, there came with it the French Revolution, the 
Storm and Stress period, and later still the era of Roman- 
ticism and the Reaction. The nation revived, but not 
without many a racking birth-throe. It had no peace, 
either in politics or in philosophy. System after system 
rose and fell, Leibnitz, Thomasius, Spinoza, Kant, Schell- 



STUDENTS. 311 



ing, Hegel, Fichte swept across the German mind, as the 
Swedes, French, Croats, Russians, Cossacks, Italians, 
English swept over the country. It was not until the 
July Revolution and the death of Goethe, in round num- 
bers the year 1830, that Germany caught the first glim- 
merings of the dawn of material prosperity and national 
stability. Is it surprising, then, that the students should 
have been in sympathy with the siate of their country, 
should have exhibited in their action and sentiments 
every phase from imbecile pedantry to heaven-defying 
Titanism .? The student of to-day, as I have said on a 
previous occasion, is not the student of 1830, or of 1800; 
neither is he the student of 1900. With increase of 
wealth and the consciousness of belonging to the fore- 
most political power in Europe, will also come a keener 
appreciation of the axiom, noblesse oblige. Many things 
tolerable, permissible in the subjects of a second-rate 
power struggling for acknowledgment, will appear incom- 
patible with membership in a great nation. Foremost 
among the subduing, repressive agencies of the future, I 
am disposed to rate the compulsory military service. 
Until very recently, none but Prussian students had to 
serve their term ; students in the other German states 
could purchase exemption. Now all have to serve alike 
for one year, as einfahrige Freiwillige. Viewed on one 
side, this is a cruel waste of time ; on the other, it will 
undoubtedly teach the students habits of subordination, 
and cure them of many of their present vagaries. The 
man who has drilled and mounted guard for a twelve- 



312 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

month is apt to take a soberer view of life. The Prussian 
universities are a proof of this ; the dueling at them was 
never so bad as it was at the non-Prussian. We should 
do the German student great injustice by ignoring his 
antecedents. His virtues are mainly his own, his vices 
are mainly inherited ; they are the relics of a by-gone 
age, and cannot be shaken off by a single generation, 
much less by arbitrary enactments emanating from those 
in authority. They must disappear of themselves, one 
by one. 

As one who has enjoyed to the full and in a thankful 
spirit the privileges of the libertas academica, I should 
regard the diminution of that freedom by the smallest 
tittle as a disaster to Germany and to the world at large. 
Fortunately there is no danger of such a blunder. The 
Germans are too strongly attached to their system of 
school and university to tamper with either, too deeply 
conscious of the services rendered by both school-master 
and professor to suffer the one to interfere with the other. 
At the same time I cherish the hope that the day will 
come, and that right speedily, when the Sauf comment and 
the Metisiir shall have disappeared save as traditions, 
when the student shall have been toned down to con- 
formity with the rules of ordinary society, and shall cease 
to look upon himself as aught but a free man pursuing 
liberal studies. Hitherto the ideal and the real have sel- 
dom been blended in German life. Side by side with the 
highest spiritual culture, are still to be found only too 
often slovenliness of garb and awkwardness — shall I call 



DISCIPLINE. 313 



it uncouthness ? — of manner. The students are not 
alone in this respect. The same defect may be observed, 
although less frequently and in a less degree, in pro- 
fessors and men of letters. How often is the traveler in 
Germany pained at the want of congruity between the 
soul and the man, how often forced to regret that the 
entire being, to use the threadbare expression of Matthew 
Arnold, is not yet pervaded by sweetness and light. It 
is not for Americans to find fault with German students 
or professors. We are too deeply in their debt to speak 
of their sterling qualities in a tone of flippancy. It 
behooves us to admire and respect them. Yet the friend 
who rejoices in their prosperity may be permitted to wish 
for them a trifle more of ease and grace of manner, a 
character just a shade less positive and a shade more 
winsome. 

T. 

Discipline. 

After endeavoring so strenuously to represent the Ger- 
man university as an institution that affords the utmost 
intellectual and social freedom, it may seem inconsistent 
in me to devote a special section of the present work to 
the subject of discipline. How can there be such a thing 
as discipline at Berlin, or Leipsic, or Gottingen 1 What 
hold has the university, as a body, a corporation, upon 
the individual student } To which I answer : a very 
strong hold, much stronger indeed than the arbitrary 
27 



314 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

sway of our American faculty-meetings. When the uni- 
versity makes its authority felt, it does so with the pre- 
cision, the dignity, and the inflexibility of a legal tribunal. 

The administration of discipline is entrusted to the 
university court. The composition of this body varies 
with the different universities. The principal members, 
however, are the Rector and the University Judge 
( Universitdtsrichter). This latter, who may be a member 
of the legal faculty and who must be a jurist, is a govern- 
ment official. He represents directly the head of the 
nation. The Rector,* if not himself a jurist, associates 
with him some member of the legal faculty as adviser. In 
grave emergencies, e. g., in case of a student-insurrection, 
the Senatus Academicus would be convened. But ordi- 
narily the administration of justice is in the hands of the 
two men above mentioned. The beadles are the univer- 
sity police, empowered to make arrests and summon 
delinquents. The proceedings before the university court 
are strictly legal in their character, the form of procedure 
being prescribed by royal mandate. The court is respon- 
sible, directly and personally, to the Ministry of Public 
Instruction. It has the power of compelling the attend- 
ance of those subject to its jurisdiction, and of compell- 
ing testimony under oath, if necessary. 

The jurisdiction of the court is strictly defined. So 
also are the punishments that it can inflict. These con- 
sist of fines, imprisonment, damages, and suspension or 

*The rectorship is not a permanent office, but rotates from year to year 
among the four faculties. 



DISCIPLINE. 315 



expulsion. The ordinary punishment is imprisonment in 
the university Career for a term varying from one day to 
two weeks. The offender is permitted to attend lectures, 
on parole, but otherwise is kept in close, and usually soli- 
tary, confinement. His meals are served in his cell, by 
the beadle. He has to pay for them at fixed rates. He 
can have in his cell such books as he may need for pur- 
suing his studies, and he is permitted, I believe, to smoke. 
The beadle will also furnish beer, to a limited extent, 
"on the sly." Incarceration, therefore, does not interfere 
with one's studies; it merely restricts one's freedom of 
movement for the while. It is scarcely a hardship to be 
locked up after this fashion for a fortnight. Yet it is a 
monstrous bore, and looked upon as such by those who 
have had occasion to experience its sobering influence. 
Fines are imposed occasionally for breaches of public 
order. Damages occur chiefly in connection with alimen- 
tation suits. In general, whatever has to do with the 
money-matters of the student is under the exclusive con- 
trol of the academic court. Nearly every university has 
its Credit-ediet, a legal enactment prescribing with 
minuteness the amount to which and the objects for 
which shop-keepers may give credit. Civil suits for 
goods sold and delivered, services performed, room-rent, 
and the like, must be brought in the academic court. 
They will not be received by the ordinary civil courts. 
If the claimant has not complied with the terms of the 
Credit-ediet, his claim is barred, and cannot be brought 
even after the student has left the university. The 



3l6 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

exception, like that arising from our usury laws, runs in 
peypetuo. The object of the Credit-edict is to protect 
students, who are proverbially thoughtless, from being 
overreached, and to break up the pernicious system of 
unlimited credit which prevails among the shop-keepers 
in university towns. 

The reader will perceive that the university court has 
nothing to do with the manners and morals of the stu- 
dent, except so far as they may be violations of positive 
law. But the moment the student transgresses the limits 
of public order and decency, he is promptly arraigned 
and promptly punished. He is tried as offenders are 
tried in our police courts, /. ^., for a specific offense, 
proved by witnesses, and punished by fine or imprison- 
ment. The notion of reforming the delinquent, of reduc- 
ing him to a more or less lachrymose state and exhorting 
him to mend his ways, is not one that influences the 
Universit'dtsrichter. His business, like that of every other 
judge, is to punish. 

The leniency with which dueling is treated may seem 
to conflict with this view of the university court as the 
guardian of public order. Although I have already dis- 
cussed the subject of dueling, I take the liberty of revert- 
ing to it, by way of adding a final word. According to 
the German theory, dueling is not strictly an infringement 
upon public order. When two men quarrel in the street 
and come to blows, they commit a breach of the peace 
for which both are to be punished. But if, instead of 
this, one man challenges the other, and the challenge is 



DISCIPLINE. 317 



accepted, the duel which ensues is something of a differ- 
ent nature ; the elements of agreement and secrecy come 
in to change its character. The duel is punishable, but 
not as a breach of the peace. I do not say that the 
theory is a correct one. I merely give it as it has been 
set forth to me repeatedly by Germans. It will explain 
to us why street-fighting is of such rare occurrence in 
'Germany, and why dueling is comparatively so common. 
Let us suppose the case of two students becoming in- 
volved in a personal altercation. One of them considers 
himself insulted by the other. He has his choice of 
redress. He can either challenge, or he can lay the 
matter before the university court and demand a formal 
apology and declaration of honor {Ehrenerklarung). The 
court is bound by the terms of its constitution to listen 
to his complaint, to examine the evidence, and to com- 
pel the offending party to retract, under penalty of expul- 
sion. It is not a question of what the judge may or may 
not think best, it is a question of legal right on the part 
of the complainant, and is to be settled according to the 
evidence. But if the student sees fit to waive his legal 
privileges and to resort to arms, he takes, as I have said 
before, his chances. The university judge, seeing him- 
self ignored, is certainly not going out of his way to 
investigate the affair, about which he knows nothing. 
All that he does know is that the practice of dueling pre- 
vails among students, and that any attempt on his part to 
put a sudden stop to it would bring a nest of hornets 
about his ears. The beadles cannot watch the move- 
*27 



31 8 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

ments of seven hundred or a thousand young men care- 
fully enough to prevent more than one duel in ten. Oc- 
casionally they succeed in making a capture. The offen- 
ders are then tried summarily and imprisoned for a fort- 
night. It is only when the dueling threatens to become 
too frequent, that the university judge considers it neces- 
sary to whip up his myrmidons to extra zeal and activity. 
But dueling aside, the reader can rest assured that 
public order is strictly maintained. The student may 
idle away his time unchecked, he may amuse himself in a 
variety of questionable ways, he may befuddle himself 
every day in the week, for in doing so he injures only 
himself, and the university does not consider itself a 
reformatory school. But he must not do aught to inter- 
fere with the comfort of peaceable citizens. Boisterous 
singing in the streets, breaking lamps, stealing sign- 
boards, abusing night-watchmen, and a dozen other play- 
ful diversions of the kind, against which the American 
faculty is comparatively helpless, are certain to call down 
the wrath of the judge. The offenses are committed, but 
then they are always punished. Each successive genera- 
tion of students learns by its own experience the sad 
truth embodied in the following parody on Schiller's 
Song of the Bell, inscribed in charcoal on the walls of the 
Gottingen Career : 

Geflihrlich ist *s den Piidel wecken, 
Verderhlich ist dcs Prof ax' Zahn, 

Jedoch der schrecklichste der Schrecken, 
Das ist der Wolff in seinem Wahn. 



DISCIPLINE. 319 



Wolff was at the time judge. Prof ax, corresponding to 
our term " Prex," is the cant name for Prorector. 

To give an idea of the strictness of the principles upon 
which university justice is administered, I narrate the 
following incident. It was the only occasion on which I 
came in contact with the court. One afternoon in 
August, during the long vacation, I called at the room 
of a friend, bringing with me an Italian, a young man not 
connected in any way with the university but engaged in 
special work in the library. My friend stepped into his 
sleeping-room to change his coat preparatory to joining 
us in a walk. While we were waiting for him, the Italian 
amused himself by throwing an empty soda-water bottle 
at a dog in the public square below. It was a thought- 
less, boyish freak, committed on the spur of the moment, 
and did no harm, not even to the dog. Nevertheless, 
glass is not a substance to be trifled with. The bottle 
fell upon the unpaved earth and did not break. One of 
the beadles, who happened to pass by at the moment, 
made a note of the house and the room. No sooner had 
the university re-opened in October, and the university 
court resumed its sessions, than my friend was cited to 
appear. I accompanied him as a witness. But my testi- 
mony was not even received. The judge addressed my 
friend : 

J. Herr , you are charged with having thrown a 

bottle from the window of your room on such and such a 
day last August. Did you commit the offense.'' 



320 GKRMAX UNIVERSITIES. 

A. I did not. I knew nothing of the aff^^ir until it was 
over. 

J. But the bottle was thrown from your room.? 

A. Yes. But it was thrown by somebody else, without 
my knowledge and consent. 

J. Who threw it, then } 

A. An acquaintance, named . 

J. Can you produce him in court .? 

A. No. He has left Gottingen, and, I suppose, will 
not return. I do not know where he is at present. 

J. Very well. Then I shall have to hold you respon- 
sible. The occupant of a room is liable for all that takes 
place in his room. You are fined twenty silver groschen 
(fifty cents). I cannot tolerate any such dangerous prac- 
tice as throwing bottles upon public ground, where 
people are passing continually. If you cannot produce 
the real offender, you must suffer yourself. 

Such a system operates to promote a healthy tone 
among the students. One rarely if ever hears them speak 
of their professors in words of disrespect. A student may 
look upon some one professor as an old-fogy, or lang- 
weilig, and his lectures as a bore. But in all this there is 
no personal hostility, no grudge. Furthermore, one does 
not hear from the students complaints of injustice. 
Every man who has " sat out " his term in the Career 
knows full well that he was legally tried and legally 
punished. He would no more think of complaining of 
unfair treatment than would the habitues of Jefferson 
Market. He knows that his sentence was inflicted, not 



COMPARISON WITH ENGLA ND. 3 2 1 



for the violation of an ill defined and fluctuating code of 
morals and etiquette, but for the violation of laws and 
regulations emanating from the State itself and adminis- 
tered by a State official who is personally responsible for 
neglect and maladministration. 



VI. 

Comparison with English Universities 

I approach this part of the subject with reluctance. 
Not having visited either Oxford or Cambridge, my 
knowledge of the English university system is at best 
only second-hand, and confessedly imperfect. English 
scholarship ranks high in America. We are apt to re- 
gard the best men of Oxford and Cambridge as prodigies 
in their respective departments. Without intending to 
speak in disparagement of the English universities, I 
venture to put in a word of dissent from the indiscrim- 
inate praise that is heaped upon them in Mr. Bristed's 
work. One has only to study attentively Matthew 
Arnold's report on the educational system of Germany, 
above all to read between the lines and detect what the 
author thinks but dares not express, to gain the convic- 
tion that higher education in England labors under many 
and grave evils. 

The chief objections that may be urged against the 
English system, so far as I can formulate them, are as 
follows. The education afforded by Oxford and Cam- 



322 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

bridge is illiberal, is expensive, and is comparatively 
unproductive of results. 

It is illiberal both in its quantity and its quality. All 
told, the number of students at Oxford and Cambridge 
is between 3,000 and 4,000. Leipsic alone has almost as 
many. In the German Empire, the matriculated stu- 
dents (according to the University Calendar for the 
present summer) are in round numbers 16,000. This in- 
cludes twenty universities, but not the Catholic Academy 
of Miinster. It does not include non-matriculating at- 
tendants at lectures, of whom there are 1,816 at Berlin 
alone, nor does it include the Austrian universities. In 
other words, there are five men pursuing a higher educa- 
tion in Germany for one in the United Kingdom. To 
this it may be objected that the comparison takes no 
note of institutions like the universities of Edinburgh 
and Glasgow, Trinity College (Dublin), and others of a 
more limited nature in the city of London. But do 
Edinburgh, Glasgow, or Trinity rank with Oxford and 
Cambridge .? I put the question as a foreigner, one who 
is free from petty local prejudices or jealousies. Are not 
the students who set the tone better prepared at Oxford 
and Cambridge than elsewhere 1 Is not the instruction, 
as a whole, of a higher order.? Do not Oxford and Cam- 
bridge claim to be the seats of learning by eminence ? 
When an English writer speaks of " university men," does 
he not mean, as a matter of course, Oxons and Can- 
tabs .? Regarding the amount of study accomplished, the 
scope of the curriculum, prestige, wealth of endowment, 



COMFA J? /SON WI TH ENGL A ND. 323 

social and political influence, we shall be constrained to 
place Oxford and Cambridge by themselves, as the best 
that the English system can exhibit. This will not 
hinder us from admitting the personal superiority of 
many Edinburgh and Glasgow graduates. 

As the best, then, that the United Kingdom can ex- 
hibit, I must pronounce Oxford and Cambridge illiberal 
in comparison with the stately list of universities that 
begins with Berlin and ends with Wiirzburg. Oxford 
and Cambridge do not represent the entire Kingdom, do 
not train the men from all classes of society and for all 
the professions. The German university is national 
property, the English is not. It is a private corporation, 
pursuing objects of its own selection and heeding public 
clamor only when that clamor becomes too loud, too un- 
mistakable to be longer neglected. It is sectarian in its 
character and in its tendency, aristocratic in its atmos- 
phere, and — severe as the expression may sound — bigo- 
ted in its mode of instruction. It is sectarian because it 
is a Church of England institution. Now the Church of 
England is as liberal as any church well canr^be. The 
very circumstance that it is broken up into so many fac- 
tions or cliques only proves as much. Yet broad and 
generous as it may be, it is still narrow in mind and 
heart as compared with mankind at large. Is it not 
strange, then, well nigh intolerable, that a country like 
England, claiming to have shaken off all the fetters of 
spiritual and political bondage, should tolerate such ex- 
clusivism in letters,? Dissenters, Catholics, and Jews, it 



324 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

is true, can now pursue their studies at Oxford and Cam- 
bridge, and are admitted to competition for university 
prizes. But since how long ? And even now, can the 
Dissenter, the Catholic, or the Jew look upon Oxford or 
Cambridge as his university, are any of the professors his 
professors, is any part of the curriculum shaped with 
reference to his tenets ? In Germany, the Catholics have 
their own universities, or, in Protestant countries, their 
paritetic faculties. Among the professors are not a few 
Jews, men of the widest reputation. Every German, irre- 
spective of creed, of sectional jealousy, feels that any 
German university can be his, that wherever conflict of 
religious opinion comes in, allowances are made for his 
peculiarities. The consequence is that all the German 
universities are knit together by the strongest of spiritual 
bonds. Students pass freely from one to the other, with- 
out so much as dreaming of jealousy or of drawing invi- 
dious comparisons. The 16,000 young men now attend- 
ing the twenty German universities are put on a footing 
of the most absolute equality as to rights and obligations. 
Nor is this all. These universities meet the intellectual 
wants of the entire nation. Not only is no man excluded 
from them, either theoretically or practically, but every 
man of literary, scientific, or political aspirations must 
attend them. They are the only avenues through which 
one can hope to enter the professions. They are shaped 
so as to furnish instruction of the highest order in every 
branch. One can scarcely mention a subject of investi- 
gation that is not taught at every German university by 



COMPARISON WITH ENGLAND. 325 

one, or ten, or perhaps twenty men of ability. The uni- 
versities are State institutions, open to all citizens as a 
matter of right. They are under the control of the Min- 
istry of Public Instruction, they are the Corinthian capi- 
tal of the national system of education. They are just 
as much national property as the public schools, the 
courts, the post-office. 

What is the contrast presented by Oxford and Cam- 
bridge .'' Young men are compelled to wear an absurd 
mediaeval garb, one that might afford a good question for 
our debating societies, namely, whether it was intended 
by nature for ornament or for use. Young men are com- 
pelled to attend the religious services of a church which 
does not represent the entire nation, are compelled to 
live by routine, to keep hours. And finally, they are 
compelled to follow prescribed courses of study. Every- 
where compulsion, nowhere the freedom that the German 
is taught to regard as the prime element in study. The 
instruction at Oxford and Cambridge is excellent in its 
way, but it runs in too narrow grooves, it has too much 
the character of training for a boat-race, and too little 
the character of " science." Those who compete for fellow- 
ships and prizes are hampered in many ways, being forced 
to acquire a certain amount of superficial familiarity with 
branches outside of their chosen department. The clas- 
sical men are bored with mathematics, the mathematical 
men are bored with the classics. It is only within twenty 
or thirty years that the " natural-science " men have had 
any chance whatever. We shall scarcely find a more apt 
28 



326 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

illustration of the weakness, the want of liberality in the 
English system, than Mr. Bristed's description of Dr. 
Whewell's advent to power, as Master of Trinity College, 
Cambridge. Mr. Bristed writes (p. 119), "By these and 
similar proceedings he made himself very unpopular with 
the mass of students, and the classical men were particu- 
larly annoyed at an avowed intention of changing the 
plan on which scholarships had been given. It was semi- 
officially announced through the various tutors and other 
college officers (the Master is not supposed to hold any 
personal communication with the undergraduates in his 
official capacity), that a certain modicum of Mathe- 
matics — I forget how many marks, but certainly more 
than many of the classical men had been in the habit of 
aspiring to — would be absolutely insisted upon, and the 
classical papers of those who did not come up to this 
standard would not be looked at. * * * The classi- 
cal men found the University Tripos regulations which 
required them to go out in Mathematical Honors before 
they could sit for Classical, exceedingly oppressive, but 
they endured them as sturdily as their elders do the 
taxes ; it was some compensation and consolation to be 
able to do without the much disliked study at Trinity, 
and to get Scholarships and Fellowships by dint of Clas- 
sics alone. For Trinity scholars had been so utterly 
unmathematical as to go out among the TToAAoi, and yet 
were elected Fellows after it. The cases were not very 
common, to be sure, but they were numerous enough for 
a precedent. To introduce into the college examinations 



COMPARISON WITH ENGLAND. 327 

any restrictions like those which embarrassed the uni- 
versity ones, was invading the votaries of classical lore 
in their very citadel." The reader must bear in mind 
the distinction between the college and the university. 
Trinity College is the seat of classic learning, yet the 
University of Cambridge, as a whole, is mathematical in 
its proclivities. The college favors a certain set of 
studies, the university another. A new Master is ap- 
pointed for the college, who threatens to change its 
character. Those students who had entered Trinity 
College in good faith, supposing that no more than a limi- 
ted amount of work in mathematics would be exacted 
from them, find their prospects of college preferment 
suddenly overcast. With them it was not merely a point 
of honor, but a question of pecuniary loss. They were 
cut off from the chances of a Fellowship. Can anything 
be imagined more arbitrary, more spasmodic 1 One man 
is to have the right of setting and upsetting. Education, 
which should be planned in accordance with definite 
principles, is to be made a matter of individual caprice. 
Neither Oxford nor Cambridge is a university in the 
true sense of the term. It is a congeries of colleges. 
Each college has its own organization, its own adminis- 
tration, its own body of students and instructors. The 
university has but a nominal share in the instruction and 
the discipline. The most that it does is to set the 
requirements for the Tripos. In Germany there are no 
colleges. The faculties of the university are co-ordinated. 
The rectorship passes year by year from one faculty to 



328 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

another. The student is responsible to his faculty for the 
quality of his work, but the discipline is administered by 
the university at large. The theologian, the jurist, the clas- 
sical philologist, the mathematician, the student of medi- 
cine, the historian, the geologist, are co-equal. No one 
can claim precedence over the other. Merit is not 
gauged according to preconceived opinions as to the 
respective superiority of classics over mathematics, or 
vice versa, or of the two over the sciences of nature. 
Each student has his own branch of study, and ranks as 
good or bad according to his performances in that 
branch alone. 

To make this perfectly clear, I should place side by 
side, in tabular array, the list of hours and studies of 
Oxford, for instance, and of some German university, say 
Leipsic. But the space is wanting. I give in a subse- 
quent place the list for Leipsic alone. The reader who 
wishes to inform himself more fully, need only contrast it 
with the Oxford calendar. After making the comparison, 
he will scarcely be tempted to rank the two institutions 
as equals. 

The secret of the German university instruction is this. 
It rests upon a broad basis of well graded public schools. 
How England stands in this respect, has been abundantly 
shown by Matthew Arnold. The English have no 
schools that correspond to the German gymnasiums. 
Both Oxford and Cambridge, with all their pretensions, 
have to make good the defects of even such schools as 
Eton, Rugby, Harrow and Winchester. I have cited in 



COMPA RISON WI TH ENGL A ND. 329 

another place the courses, in whole or in part, of two 
gymnasiums selected at random as representatives of 
their class. They show that the public schools of Ger- 
many teach all that a man need master in the way of 
general discipline. The classics are well taught, but so 
are mathematics, the modern languages, the natural 
sciences, history, and belles lettres. The Frimaner who 
gets his Matuntdtszeugniss (certificate of ripeness) is fully 
the peer of the best sixth-form boy of Rugby in clas- 
sics — even Mr. Arnold admits that — and, what Mr. 
Arnold passes over in silence without expressly admit- 
ting, he is superior in everything else. He knows all that 
can be expected of a well educated man in the way of 
general information on general topics. For his special 
training, and for this alone, there remains the university. 
An additional defect of the English universities is their 
practice of testing scholarship by close competitive ex- 
aminations. The Honor-men of Oxford and Cambridge, 
the Scholars and Fellows, are undoubtedly men of supe- 
rior attainments. They have done a prodigious amount 
of work in a very short time. The question is, whether 
the work is of the right kind, and whether it is done in 
the right way. After reading attentively Mr. Bristed's 
work, and others, I am forced to the conclusion — 
shared moreover by the leading scholars of Germany — 
that competitive examinations are not the proper test of 
scientific study. Speed, knack, what the English call 
"pace," is unduly exalted at the expense of thoroughness 
and originality. The candidate for honors reads certain 
*28 



S30 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

works and authors because he has every reason for be- 
lieving that they will be " set," he neglects others because 
he knows that they are not "set." In other words, he 
subjects his individual preferences to the conventional- 
isms of the examiners. Term after term, year after year, 
he is kept on the stretch. He asks himself repeatedly 
the question : Can I afford to do this } Will it not be 
safer to do that ? He has not the opportunity of branch- 
ing off into some unexplored field of study and producing 
novel, independent results. Questions which the English 
Honor-man passes over, on the plea that they will proba- 
bly " not pay," are precisely the ones which the German 
student takes up with patience and energy, in the hope 
of achieving reputation as an original thinker. Besides, 
the strain involved in preparing for a competitive exam- 
ination is too severe. It exhausts the mind and the 
body. Success is too dearly bought, failure is disheart- 
ening. The soundest thinkers of England, I believe, are 
slowly awaking to the consciousness that the prize-exam- 
inations of Oxford and Cambridge do not answer their 
purpose satisfactorily. 

In the next place, the instruction at Oxford and Cam- 
bridge costs too much. Compared with Germany, Eng- 
land is an expensive country. Yet the cost of living at 
an English university is largely in excess of what it 
should be, even for England. The reason is that prices 
are arbitrary, and the style of living is conventional. 
The tone is set by the many wealthy young men, noble- 
men and parvenus, who have more money than they 



COMPARISON WITH ENGLAND. 331 

know how to spend properly, and who launch accord- 
ingly into all sorts of extravagance. What with " tigers," 
horses, dogs, boating-clubs, elaborate dinners and sup- 
pers, they make an ostentation of wealth that either 
throws the poorer students completely into the shade, or 
forces them into ruinous competition. This can scarcely 
be said of the German universities. The wealthy students 
of Berlin or Bonn or Leipsic do not exercise a like in- 
fluence over their fellows, for the reason that they do not 
come in such close personal contact with them. In Eng- 
land, a student has the same associates for three or four 
years, lives with them in the same quadrangle, recites in 
the same classes, attends the same chapel and church, sits 
at the same Commons. In Germany, each man lives by 
himself, selects his rooms and his dining-place according 
as his means may permit, and associates only with men 
who are personally congenial. If he has had the ill luck 
to make the acquaintance of a " fast " set in his first 
semester, it is an easy matter to reform by cutting them 
in the second. If the worst comes to the worst, he has 
only to try a change of air by removing to another uni- 
versity. It was a common saying in my day, that the 
Heidelberg idlers came to Gottingen, after a semester or 
two, to do their studying. 

Not only are the expenses of living at Oxford and 
Cambridge out of all proportion to the benefit received, 
but the atmosphere of both places, particularly of Oxford, 
is thoroughly aristocratic. I do not condemn this un- 
qualifiedly as a fault. If England sees fit to maintain 



332 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

her aristocratic institutions, it is not for the foreigner to 
take her to task therefor. Yet this concession should not 
prevent us from looking the facts full in the face and 
estimating their bearing and probable results. The 
higher education of England is in the exclusive posses- 
sion of the higher, say rather the highest classes. Not 
that all the students come from the nobility and the 
bourgeoisie parvenue. The real study at both Oxford and 
Cambridge is done by the sons of toiling barristers, coun- 
try clergymen of the Church of England, and other per- 
sons of limited means. Yet even these students are 
under the influence of the aristocratic element. They 
themselves are aristocrats in disguise, they represent the 
side lines of the nobility. Most certainly they are not 
democratic. The popular element in England is ex- 
cluded de facto from participation in the real or sup- 
posed benefits of Oxford and Cambridge. If we examine, 
on the other hand, the mass of students in any German 
university, we shall find that it is composed of representa- 
tives of every class, from the highest nobility, perhaps 
the royal family itself, to the lowliest shop-keeper and dis- 
trict tax-collectoc. From this results the happy equality 
that characterizes the German seats of learning. They are 
neither aristocratic nor democratic in the political or the 
social sense, but they are what they should be, — national. 
They exist for the entire nation, they are supported by 
contributions from the national purse, and they supply 
the nation in turn with all its clergymen, physicians, law- 
yers, teachers, men of science. Hence the respect, I may 



COMPARISON WITH ENGLAND. 333 



say the enthusiastic affection, the unbounded pride that the 
nation as a whole takes in its universities. It is not pride 
in any one university, in Berlin or Leipsic, nor in any 
one professor or set of professors, but in the system as a 
system, that affords to all an equal chance of first-rate 
education at the lowest possible price. Now much as we 
respect Oxford and Cambridge, great as may be our 
veneration for the names and associations that cluster 
around them, we cannot in fairness regard them as in this 
sense national. They are English, intensely English ; 
they could not exist outside the factitious atmosphere 
that envelops English " society." Yet they do not rep- 
resent the entire nation, only its governing classes. We 
do well to think with admiration of the great scholars 
that have lived and died on the banks of the Isis and the 
Cam. But we shall do better to judge them also by what 
they have failed to accomplish. What have they done 
for the diffusion of science and of culture in England 1 
Have they not, by their exclusiveness, their prejudice, 
helped, unconsciously perhaps yet not the less directly, to 
make the English folk what it is, the most benighted, the 
most illiterate, the most helpless, the most brutal among 
all the nations that call themselves civilized.? Oxford 
and Cambridge are at this day not seats of learning pure 
and simple, they are the trysting places of the nobility 
and the bourgeoisie parvenue. The noblemen are in need 
of money to preserve and round off ancestral acres, the 
wealthy seek after titles. At the university, then, are laid 
the foundations of future alliances political and matri- 



334 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

monial. Probably half the students who go to Oxford 
and Cambridge, do so not to study but to " form connec- 
tions." And the possible results ? It is not for me to 
predict coming events. Yet should the fourth estate 
succeed in sending a certain number of representatives 
to parliament, enough to form a majority with the Dis- 
senters and the Catholics, — such a conjuncture is any- 
thing but impossible, — what position would the English 
universities occupy .? Could they make any reply to the 
searching demand: What have you done for us.? Of 
what good to us are your scholarships, your fellowships, 
your Regius professors.'' Why should we refrain from 
reconstructing you from top to bottom 1 

Finally, the English university system is comparatively 
unproductive of results. It may seem presumptuous in 
any one man to break thus the rod of judgment over the 
backs of so many hundreds older, wiser, more renowned 
than himself. Yet surely any one claiming to be a 
scholar has the right to judge other men's scholarship by 
what it accomplishes. Personally acquainted with not 
one of the many professors and fellows of Oxford and 
Cambridge, I can estimate them only by what they do 
and by what they fail to do. Regarding science and 
scholarship in the aggregate, then, I venture to assert 
that there are only two departments in which the English 
are at the present time prominent, viz., pure mathematics 
and natural history. In all the others, they play a sub- 
ordinate part. And in these two departments themselves, 
the universities have but a small share. Such men as 



COMPARISON WITH ENGLAND. 335 

Tyndall, Huxley, and Darwin, move outside the univer- 
sity sphere. It may be doubted even whether they meet 
with as hearty support and encouragement in their own 
country as they do in Germany and in France. In the 
departments of law, history, speculative philosophy, phi- 
lology, orientalia, theology, the English universities pro- 
duce scarcely anything that can be called first-rate. Let 
us take up some of them in order. As for law, neither 
Oxford nor Cambridge pretends to give a legal education. 
Oxford looks upon its honorary degree of D. C. L. as the 
choicest gift in its power to confer. Yet Oxford is 
incapable of teaching the Pandects. Were an Oxford 
fellow, I do not say an undergraduate, to undertake the 
study of the Civil Law, what help could he obtain from 
the university } The very first thing that he would have 
to do would be to learn German and French, because in 
those languages alone would he find available text-books. 
Even in the English Common Law, Oxford and Cam- 
bridge do nothing. The lawyer pursues his studies at 
the Temple, and at the Westminster Courts. Should he 
be foolhardy enough to venture upon the history of the 
Common Law, where will he find any aid and encourage- 
ment, any professors who can guide him in his researches, 
can tell him what to read and how to read it .? He must 
work by himself, must spend years of toil in forming mere 
preliminary judgments, such as the German student picks 
up in his first semester. In other words, there is not in 
all Englajid a school of legal history or legal philosophy. 
Nor are the English better off in the matter of political 



336 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

history. The leading historians of the present generation 
are Freeman, Froude, TroUope and Lingard. As to 
Fronde's merits, the reader may consult the stinging 
reviews of him in the Historische Zeitschrift. With regard 
to the others, can any one compare them for a single 
sober moment with men like Ranke, Waitz, Wattenbach, 
Droysen, Jaffe, and von Sybel ? Is there any spot in 
England, inside or outside the universities, where history 
is taught as an independent branch of science ? The 
English do something for the history of their own coun- 
try, but not much more than the Germans are doing for 
them. Whereas they do nothing for the history of Ger- 
many, next to nothing for the history of France, Italy and 
Spain. The most that they do is to appropriate the hard- 
won researches of continental scholars and serve them 
up to the public in the shape of palatable magazine 
articles. Still worse is the case with philology. One 
might suppose that the shades of Bentley and Porson 
would rise from the dust and castigate their degenerate 
successors. The only philologist of general reputation 
connected with the English Universities is Max Miiller, 
a German ! It would be superfluous to call off in this 
place the long array of names of men who have made 
Germany famous in this department, all the Grimms and 
Bopps, and Schleichers. What have the English t6 set up 
against them 1 When the student of philology begins his 
investigations into the origin of language, into the rela- 
tions of the Indo-Germanic, the Semitic, the Ugric fami- 
lies of languages, what English authorities and text-books 



COMPARISON WITH ENGLAND. 337 

does he consult? Even in the field where, above all 
others, we have reason to expect much of English 
scholarship, namely, the very limited department of 
English philology, the state of things is, to speak mildly, 
humiliating. The only scientific, rational grammars of 
the English language are the works of two Germans, 
Koch and Matzner. The only critical edition of the 
body of Anglo-Saxon poetry is by a German, Grein. 
And that same German is obliged to suspend his edition 
of the body of Anglo-Saxon prose because he discovers 
that the English text-editions upon which he relied are 
untrustworthy! No Englishman thinks it worth the 
while to go out of his way to study the Hildebi-andslied or 
the Nibelungenlied or Farzival, yet he suffers the German 
to invade him in his home and instruct him upon 
Beovulf, Cynevulf, and Aelfric. 

It is needless to push the comparison farther. While 
the Germans, restless, enterprising, thoroughly trained, 
have ransacked the libraries of all Europe, making them- 
selves at home in the political and literary history of 
every country, editing rare works in old French, old 
Spanish, Italian, Slavonic, Norse, inventing new theories 
and processes and bringing them within the reach of 
every student, the English have rested on their labors, in 
insular exclusiveness. They have trod their round of 
Tripos and Little-Go, they have written clever verses in 
Latin and made smooth translations and " floored " 
papers, but they have not produced their share of 
scholars. They are laggards in the great international 
29 



338 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

handicap, because they are overweighted with routine 
and with narrow-minded devotion to certain studies. Is 
it because the EngHsh spirit has lost its quondam energy 
of initiative ? For one, I am loth to believe it. I have 
not lost faith in the brain-power of the Anglo-Saxon race. 
What that race needs is emancipation from the thraldom 
of caste in education. Should the fourth estate do noth- 
ing worse than reconstruct Oxford and Cambridge, Eton, 
Harrow, Rugby, and the entire system from top to 
bottom, its advent to power might be hailed as a blessing. 

VII. 

Comparison with American Colleges. 

To enter into an elaborate comparison of the German 
and the American systems of higher education, feature 
by feature, would not only swell the present work beyond 
reasonable limits, but would expose the one making it to 
the charge of being unpractical, unpatriotic, radical, ag- 
gressive, doctrijiaire. The time has not yet arrived when 
the real friends of educational reform can look for a fair, 
rational discussion. Passion and prejudice run too high, 
there is too much dogmatism on the part of both con- 
servative and innovator. The argument of the advo- 
cates of the existing regime might be framed somewhat 
in this wise. The American system is American, it has 
grown out of the needs of the country, it is adapted to 
the formation of national character, it gives our young 
men what they require for playing their part in public 



COMPARISON WITH AMERICA. 339 

Hie. Moreover, we are here, strongly entrenched. Be- 
side us there is none else, we cannot be dispossessed of 
our vantage ground, what are you going to do about it } 
Now there is not one of the above propositions that is 
not susceptible of being overhauled and corrected, or at 
least modified. But the time for doing it is not yet at 
hand. The American public is still indifferent, as a pub- 
lic. It is not aroused to the vital connection between 
the State and education in all its stages, highest as well 
as lowest. The explanation of the signal failure of the 
movement in behalf of Civil Service Reform is to be 
found in the circumstance that the public is apathetic. 
The nation at large does not care whether it has better 
office-holders or not. It secretly approves, rather than 
disapproves, of the principle of succession in office. After 
a man has been post-master or revenue-collector for four 
years, it is only fair — argues the American mind — that 
he give some one else "a chance." Such is public opin- 
ion, and it is idle to quarrel with it. A similar view is 
♦;aken of education. We do not need highly educated 
men. So long as our graduates can spell with tolerable 
accuracy, have a modicum of the classics and mathe- 
matics, can write and declaim with fluency, what more do 
you expect of them.? They must become "practical," 
must learn the theory through the practice, and rough it 
with the others. Right or wrong, this is the average 
estimate set upon the value of college education. The 
public does not perceive the importance of any thing 
higher and more systematic. Indeed, I am tempted at 



340 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

times to believe that the colleges have exceeded, on some 
points, the demands of their friends. They give more 
than is expected of them. There are symptoms of a 
desire to react from the progress made during the past 
fifteen years. In making this assertion, I have in view, 
not so much Yale and Harvard as the colleges in the 
Middle and Western States. Urged on by a spirit of 
rivalry which is in itself deserving only of praise, these 
latter have made their curriculum more extensive and 
have also enforced its requirements more strictly. In 
doing this, they have gone a step too far, they have out- 
run the capacities of the preparatory schools. Up to the 
outbreak of the Civil War, the American college was an 
easy-going institution, where one was not forced beyond 
his natural gait, but had leisure to follow his inclinations, 
and especially to read. This has been changed. New 
professorships in the natural sciences have been created, 
and the chairs have been filled with energetic young men, 
enthusiastic in their vocation, and — I trust they will par- 
don the bluntness of the expression — rather intolerant 
towards those who do not keep pace with them. Many 
of the professors in the older departments are also young 
men who have studied abroad, are equally enthusiastic, 
and equally intolerant. The result is that we are called 
upon to witness a curious phenomenon, one that must act 
as a disturbing element in every system of education, to 
\i'\\., 2i direct conflict of studies. Our undergraduates have 
at the present day too many studies, and are hurried 
through difficult and disconnected subjects at too rapid a 



COMPARISON WITH AIM ERICA. 341 

rate. The new professors in the classics and the new 
professors in the natural sciences threaten to tear the 
child asunder between them, and there is no Solomon at 
hand to decide upon the true alma mater. Viewed in 
this light, the assertion now going the rounds of the press 
and attributed variously to Mr. Beecher and Mr. Fields, 
namely, that our colleges have not succeeded in produc- 
ing one first-rate man in any department since 1855, will 
perhaps receive its explanation. Whatever the college 
of by-gone days may have failed to do, it certainly gave 
its pupil a better opportunity than his successor now 
enjoys, of maturing in conformity to the laws of indi- 
vidual being. 

The present remarks will be confined to three points : 
the want of connection between College and State, the 
question of economy, and the question of discipline. 

The College, unlike the German University, rests upon 
nothing and ends in nothing. We shall not obtain a just 
conception of the University unless we view it in its two- 
fold bearing. It is, on the one hand, the key-stone of 
the arch of public-school education in Germany. Every- 
thing in that system leads up to the university by a series 
of carefully graduated steps. The gymnasium rests upon 
the Volksschule, the university rests upon the gymnasium. 
The whole cannot subsist without each one of the parts. 
On the other hand, the University is the door of approach 
to all the professions and also to public ofiice. Whoever 
is not content with trade and commerce must sub- 
mit to its liberalizing discipline. Without the public 

*29 



342 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

schools as a basis, and state-service or the professions as 
a goal, the University would speedily lose its right of 
being. 

It will be needless to dwell upon the contrast presented 
by the college. I have said that it rests upon nothing 
and ends in nothing. By this is meant that the college 
is wholly dissevered from the state. It does not rest 
upon the system of public schools, neither is it the place 
where candidates prepare themselves for state-service. 
Massachusetts excepted, there is not a state where pub- 
lic schools attempt to fit young men for college. The 
needful preparation can be obtained only at academies 
and private schools which are exempt from state control 
and which pursue each the plan that seems to it best. 
However excellent these schools may be, they do not 
constitute a well organized, uniform system. The college 
ends in nothing, because its curriculum is not enforced 
as the condition precedent to civil and professional 
appointment. 

Dropping abstract terms, I put the case of real " na- 
tional education " before the reader in the shape of an 
imaginary example. Let us suppose the state of New 
York to enact a statute to the following effect : " As soon 
as may be practicable, the academies of this state shall 
be reconstituted as public schools of the first grade. 
The teachers now in office shall be required to pass an 
examination equivalent to that for B. A. or B. S. in some 
one of the acknowledged colleges of the state. Future 
applicants for the position of teacher in the academies 



COMPARISON WITH AMERICA. 343 

and grammar schools must have passed through the full 
public school course, beginning with the grammar school 
and finishing with the college, and received the degree 
of B. A. or B. S. The colleges shall be placed under the 
supervision of the State Board of Education. The trus- 
tees of a college shall have the right to propose nomina- 
tions for professorships, but the governor of the state 
shall exercise his discretion in rejecting unsuitable 
nominees. No college shall be considered as a state 
institution or entitled to recognition as an institution of 
learning, that does not submit to the regulations of the 
state authorities. As soon as the provisions of this act 
shall have been carried out, no one shall be admitted to 
the bar or bench of this state, or be permitted to practice 
medicine in the state, or be employed as teacher in the 
public schools, who shall not have received the degree of 
B. A., M. D. or B. S. from some state college acknowledged 
as such. Furthermore,, no one shall be eligible for 
appointment or election to state-office without such 
degree. Finally, all private schools wishing to be placed 
on an equality with the state academies or grammar 
schools must conform in all respects to the curriculum 
of the academy or the grammar school, and must submit 
to the state requirements in the matter of holding exami- 
nations and appointing teachers." 

Such an ideal enactment, imperfectly sketched as it is, 
will nevertheless, I trust, bring the case home to the 
reader. It is of course impracticable. Yet I venture to 
say that until we are prepared to introduce and maintain 



344 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

something of the sort, it will be useless to talk of Civil 
Service Reform and University Education. Our office- 
holders may be improved somewhat in quality, our col- 
leges may give a higher grade of instruction, but we shall 
not have a body of trained officials, neither shall we have 
a system of universities. Our colleges teach already all 
that can be demanded of institutions that receive no 
official recognition from the state, and that are viewed 
with indifference, not to say skepticism, by the leaders in 
mercantile and political life. Let the reader extol our 
college system to the best of his ability, I still maintain 
that so long as three fourths of our national and state 
representatives, nine tenths of our office-holders, and the 
majority of the teachers in our public schools are non- 
graduates, it is the most extravagant optimism to regard 
the colleges as playing any acknowledged part in national 
life. The famous Simmons case proves this beyond con- 
troversy. If there be any city in America that has just 
reason to be proud of its public-school education, it is 
Boston. If there be any college in America that has 
done more than another for the promotion of learning 
and culture, and that is merely waiting for the word to 
constitute itself into a bona fide university, it is Harvard. 
Yet Boston and Cambridge combined were unable to 
prevent the appointment of a man notoriously incompe- 
tent, a man whose mere nomination, under a system like 
that of Germany, would have been an impossibility. 

It would not be difficult to show that in point of 
economy also our colleges have much to learn from Ger- 



COMPARISON WITH AMERICA. 345 

many. The reader's most careful attention is invited to 
the tabular statement of income and expenditure for the 
university of Leipsic, presented elsewhere. Two of our 
colleges, Harvard and Yale, have each — if I mis- 
take not — as large an income as that of Leipsic. If 
smaller, the difference is certainly inconsiderable. Yet 
both Harvard and Yale would be slow in provoking a 
comparison between themselves and Leipsic. To what, 
then, must we look for the explanation of this dispro- 
portion in America between the outlay and the results 
effected } In part, but only in a small part, to the rela- 
tively higher figures of professors' salaries in America. 
Each one of the full professors at Harvard receives 
$4,000 a year, I believe. At Yale, the salaries are very 
nearly as high. No one will have the shabbiness to 
assert that the pay is too high. As a class, American 
professors are insufficiently recompensed. After years 
of toil and annoyance, they can be thankful if they are 
able to keep themselves and their families out of debt. 
Were the salary of every professor doubled, the increase 
would be nothing more than justice. It is difficult to 
understand why professors, who are men of ability and 
culture, who devote themselves unselfishly to the best 
interests of the nation, should not be paid as liberally as 
our best lawyers and physicians, why the guardians of 
the spiritual interests of men should fare worse than 
those who look merely after their bodies and estates. It 
is not more than six years ago that the president of 
Harvard was forced to admit in public that his senior 



346 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

professor received less than the chief cook of the Parker 
House ! Things have been bettered since then, but they 
have not been radically cured. 

Now for this state of affairs the party chief in respon- 
sibility is the college itself. Not Harvard, nor Yale, nor 
Princeton, nor Cornell alone, but the spirit of our college 
system. We have been misled by rivalry into copying after 
England in the feature that is least worthy of imitation. 
I mean — buildings! Had the money which has been 
sunk in brick and stone and mortar during the past 
twenty years been judiciously invested, the salary of every 
professor in America might be doubled at this moment. 
If this assertion sounds extravagant, the reader has only 
to scrutinize carefully the condition of any one of our 
colleges, to note the amount of money expended upon 
costly edifices, and then to judge for himself whether 
that amount, if placed at interest, would not add at least 
fifty per cent to the annual income. What are the 
buildings necessary for keeping up a college ? Those 
which contain the libraries and apparatus, and the rooms 
suitable for lectures and recitations. Whatever goes 
beyond this, is superfluous. We may derive some whole- 
some lessons on the point from examining into the conduct 
of the German government in re-establishing the univer- 
sity of Strassburg. Although barely three years have 
elapsed since the annexation of Alsace, the university 
has a full staff of eighty professors, and a body of six 
hundred students. Yet the university of Strassburg has 
not at this day a single buildhig that it can properly call its 



COMPARISON WITH AMERICA. 347 

own. To estimate such a policy of organization with due 
regard to its extraordinary singleness of view, we must 
bear in mind that it was not induced by stint of funds. 
Prince Bismarck, as Chancellor of the Empire and 
Administrator of the Imperial Provinces, had carte 
blanche. Probably no man since the days of Cardinal 
Wolsey enjoyed a like opportunity of immortalizing him- 
self in stained glass and stone. The French indemnity 
money was pouring into the German coffers in a steady 
stream, Germany was wild over its sudden accession to 
wealth. It would have cost but a word from the Prince 
to divert a paltry fraction, say twenty of the thousand 
millions, to the glory of German architects and the 
greater glory of the unificator of his country. But the 
Prince knew too well what he was undertaking. He 
knew that the strength of a university does not consist in 
its array of dead buildings, but in its force of live men, 
that the ultimate test of the capacity of a university is 
its ability to pay professors. So the Prince quietly let 
the twenty millions take their natural course into the 
imperial treasury, and contented himself with organizing 
the Strassburg university after the model of all the 
others, to wit, as an unobtrusive congregation of emi- 
nent men in the receipt of good salaries. For the mere 
appliances and paraphernalia of learning, for permanent 
laboratories, library buildings, botanical gardens and the 
like, he trusted to the future, and to the general principle 
that, given the skilled artisan, the workshop will follow 
of itself. 



348 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

Will it be necessary to descant upon the painful con- 
trast afforded by our colleges, to show, instance by 
instance, how we have spent our money upon the work- 
shop, until we have none left wherewith to pay the 
workman ? The city of Philadelphia expended two 
millions of dollars upon Girard College. It succeeded in 
erecting a Grecian temple that is the wonder of the 
tourist and the terror of the teacher. After years of 
tinkering and patching, the rooms are even now scarcely 
suited to the purposes of instruction, and the instructors 
themselves are scantily paid. 

Instead of scattering my remarks over a number of col- 
leges, permit me to concentrate them upon that one with 
which I am most familiar, namely, Cornell. Much has 
been bruited about of late as to Mr. Cornell's dishonesty. 
It is needless to say that the charges were completely dis- 
proved by the Committee of Investigation in their report, 
but it may not be surperfluous to add that nobody con- 
nected with the university put the slightest faith in the 
charges. On the contrary, it was a matter of almost public 
notoriety in Ithaca that Mr. Cornell was at one time 
rather embarrassed in his finances, in consequence of the 
obligations into which he had entered gratuitously for the 
benefit of the university. There is not the shadow of a 
doubt but that the intentions of Mr. Cornell have always 
been strictly honorable. Yet it is not the less evident 
that the affairs of the university have been badly man- 
aged from the outset. Instead of beginning on a modest 
scale, and developing the field of operation gradually, 



COMPARISON WITH AMERICA. 349 

keeping pace with the growth of resources, the manag- 
ers of the university started it in extravagance and then 
conducted it with the most humiUating parsimony. There 
was but one object for which money seemed to be forth- 
coming, and that object was ostentatious architecture. 
The Cascadilla was completed and the North and South 
Universities were erected at an expense of not less than 
$250,000. Ample accommodation for lectures and re- 
citations — which was all that was needed — could have 
been had for $75,000. Furthermore, instead of locating 
the university in the town of Ithaca, where it would have 
been comparatively accessible, it was pitched upon the 
crest of a hill four hundred feet high and exposed to the 
inclemency of the weather. By dint of lavish expendi- 
ture in planting trees, it is possible that the buildings may 
be sheltered, in the course of a generation, from the 
searching east winds. But nothing can ever screen them 
from the furious northerly and westerly gales that sweep 
across the lake every winter and spring. Only one who 
has himself struggled for half a mile through the snow 
against a cutting north-wester, and reached his lecture- 
room half blinded and benumbed, scarcely able to collect 
his thoughts or to keep his teeth from chattering in the 
presence of the class, will appreciate the trials of our 
model American university furnished with " all the mod- 
ern improvements." The casual visitor, who views 
the grounds on a pleasant day in June or October, 
knows nothing of all this. He perceives only the beauty 
of the landscape, and congratulates the university on its 
30 



350 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

admirable location ! The expression, as I have heard 
it again and again, always sounded like the crudest of 
friendly mockeries. A fine view on a fine day is but a 
sorry atonement for months of wearing toil and exposure. 
How shall we explain this mania, peculiar to America, of 
locating public institutions on hill-tops .? Is it that the 
whole world may see what feats of architecture we are 
capable of, crude conglomerations of bald, unrelieved 
lines, distorted chimneys, unsymmetrical windows, or do 
we desire the votaries of knowledge to look upon her 
temple as an Alpine " station .-' " 

Had Mr. McGraw, Mr. Sage, and the other donors given, 
not buildings, but the money expended on buildings, had 
the university husbanded its resources and lived year by 
year within its income, had it refrained from luxuries, 
such as high-priced lectures from outsiders, and the pur- 
chase of questionable libraries; in short, had the univer- 
sity patterned in only this one respect of economy after 
the German universities that it professes to regard as its 
beau ideal, its available capital would-be greater than it 
now is by the round sum of one million dollars. 

Cornell University is not the only institution that has 
made the mistake. Every college in the land can tell the 
same story with variations. Harvard, Yale, Amherst, 
Dartmouth, Princeton and the others have received dur- 
ing the past ten years many handsome donations, but 
these donations have come usually in the shape of build- 
ings. Few of the donors appear to have stumbled upon 
the patent fact that what a college needs in the first place 



COMPARISON WITH AMERICA. 351 

is money, in the second place money, in the last place 
money, or upon the equally patent fact that every build- 
ing entails upon the college additional expenses. A 
chapel costing $70,000 forces the college to an annual 
outlay of $1,000 to $2,000 for repairs, heating and attend- 
ance. Let us consider the most common form of dona- 
tion. A friend of college, we may say, wishes to 

bestow the handsome sum of $200,000. Instead of 
endowing four or five professorships, thereby directly 
relieving the college from so much pressure on its gen- 
eral income, he erects a handsome dormitory, capable of 
holding fifty students. Each student pays for his suite of 
rooms $250 per annum, an excessive amount for the forty 
academic weeks. The aggregate rental would be $12,500, 
From this are to be deducted the expenses for insurance, 
repairs, heating, and servants' wages, say $3,000. The 
net yield to the college, then, is only $9,500. Whereas 
the original fund, if judiciously invested, would have 
yielded $14,000. There is a waste, accordingly, of 
$4,500, to say nothing of the extra burden of worry and 
responsibility imposed upon the college authorities. 

Is it surprising that the expense of collegiate life 
should have increased so rapidly within five years 1 Our 
colleges have grown rich in appearance, but in reality 
they are little better off than they were fifteen years ago. 
They have added one stately building after another, they 
have surrounded their students with objects that incite 
to extravagance, they have encouraged, directly or indi- 
rectly, an almost luxurious style of living, yet they are 



352 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

not a whit more independent of student support.* In 
fact, they have been forced to raise their tuition- 
charges. The Senatus Academicus of Leipsic could 
dismiss five hundred students at a blow, without cur- 
tailing the regular official salary of any one of its pro- 
fessors by so much as a penny. I doubt whether the 
American college can be found that would venture to 
send away twenty of its students, and keep them away. 
The truth is that the salaries of the professors depend 
too much upon the tuition-fees paid by the students. 
This the students themselves have found out, and they 
are prepared to act upon it. They know that dormi- 
tories, chapels, libraries, laboratories, by whomsoever 
erected in the first place, are supported by the tuition- 
fees that come from them. They hold the purse-strings, 
and they have already begun to assert their so called 
rights. 

Intimately connected with this matter of economy is 
the further one of discipline. The German university 
court, whenever it does interfere, is inflexible; it can 
afford to be. Conscious that the university is a state 
institution, and that the government is pledged directly 
to its support, it is not diverted from the strictest admin- 
istration of justice by the dread of diminishing the 
income derived from students. The vacillating policy, 
the alternate spasms of laxity and strictness that mark 
the course of discipline in an American college, on the 

*The average yearly expenditure of the class of 1S74 at Yale is stated at 
over $1,000. 



COMPARISON WITH AMERICA 353 

other hand, are too well known to require more than a 
mention. Those of us who have passed or are passing 
through college know that such a thing as strict, even- 
handed justice does not exist for students. Private fail- 
ings are punished with too much severity, public disorder 
with too little, and in general there is a want of fi.xity of 
purpose. The quality of the discipline varies from term 
to term, even from week to week. I remember the in- 
stance where two students, room-mates; arraigned for 
precisely the same offense, were punished, one by sus- 
pension for three months, the other by suspension for six. 
The secret of the difference was that they were Jiot trie 
at the same faculty meeting. Not one of those professors 
who voted for the respective sentences perceived the 
gross injustice of the discrimination until attention was 
directed to it by myself, as registering clerk of the fac- 
ulty. It is not my object to discuss the grave question 
of public disorder and the proper way of meeting it, for 
I believe that there is only one way, not attainable at 
present, and that way lies in the absolute monetary inde- 
pendence of the college itself. Until professors' salaries 
can be secured by better means than precarious student- 
support, we have no right to expect a thorough reform. 
Professors are after all only men. Situated as they are, 
they cannot afford to be stricter, they must temporize, 
must yield here and there to student clamor and to in- 
veterate traditions and prejudices. At the same time, I 
cherish the belief that it is possible to effect at least a 
partial reform, by changing the mode of administering 
*30 



354 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

discipline. The change would consist in abolishing the 
present cumbersome faculty-meetings and in lodging the 
entire control in the hands of the president and say two 
advisers. A college faculty, to speak the plain, unvarnished 
truth, is a body without a soul, without a sense of respon- 
sibility, for the simple reason that the individual is lost in 
the multitude. It is impossible to obtain from an aggrega- 
tion of twenty or thirty men anything like uniformity of 
action. The whole is broken up into groups, or cliques, 
which do not act in concert, and according as one or the 
other of such cliques may be present on a given occasion, 
the voting will be decided one way or the other. Further- 
more, college professors, as a class, have loose notions as 
to what is really evidence, and what is not. Although 
sitting as judges, they have not received a legal training. 
They are determined in their opinions only too often by 
hearsay, vague rumors, and general reputation. Finally, 
their functions are too heterogeneous. They are in direct 
conflict with the cardinal principle of Anglo-Saxon jus- 
tice, to wit, the separation of legislative powers and 
judicial. 

The college faculty enacts laws and regulations, and 
then proceeds to carry them out, not infrequently legisla- 
ting ex post facto. It seems to me that this evil might be 
remedied by diminishing the number of faculty-meetings 
to one a month, and by restricting the action of the faculty 
to the discussion and adoption of general measures. The 
carrying out of those measures could be intrusted to a 
select Executive Committee, consisting of the president 



COMPARISON WITH AMERICA. 355 

and two professors (chosen with regard to their legal at- 
tainments) and responsible directly to the trustees. 
Without claiming for such a tribunal infallibility, I am 
confident that it would have at least the following merits. 
It would expedite matters wonderfully. None but the 
members of a college faculty can estimate the amount of 
time wasted in mere parley. Three men will accomplish 
as much in an hour as twenty men in an entire afternoon. 
In the next place, the rulings of a tribunal of three would 
be uniform. Each member would be bound inflexibly 
by his previous action. And in the third place, there 
would be personal responsibility ; students, parents, trus- 
tees, and outsiders would know whom to hold accountable. 
Under the present system, the burden of responsibility is 
shifted from man to man, and the student who may feel 
himself aggrieved is never at a loss for pretexts for raising 
the cry of injustice. There is no risk run in impugning 
the decisions of a faculty of twenty, but to attack a com- 
mittee of three is a step from which the ordinary student 
would shrink. The establishment of an Executive Com- 
mittee, as indicated above, would introduce a healthier 
tone of feeling between faculty and students, and would 
rid the professorial vocation of manv trials and annoy- 
ances. 



356 



GERMAX UyiVERSITIES. 



VIII. 

Statistics of the German Universities. 

The following table will show the respective ages of 
the universities of Germany : 



Prague 1348 

Vienna 1356 

Heidelberg 1386 

[Cologne 1388] 

[Erfurt 1392] 

Wurzburg 1402 

Leipsic 1409 

Rostock 1418 

[Trier 1454] 

Greifswald 1456 

Freiburg (in Baden) 1456 

Ingolstadt 1472 

Tubingen 1477 

[Menz 1477] 

[Wittenberg 1502] 

[Frankfort-on-ttie-Oder 1506] 

Marburg 1527 

Strassbjrg 1538 

Kbnigsberg 1544 

[Dillingen 1549] 

Jena 1558 

(.Olmutz 1567] 



[Helmstadt 1576] 

[Altdorf 1578] 

[Herborn 1584] 

Graz 1586 

Giessen 1607 

[Paderborn i6i6] 

[Rinteln 1621] 

Salzburg 1622 

[Osnabriick 1632] 

[Bamberg 1649] 

[Duisburg 1655] 

Kiel 1665 

Innsbruck 1677 

Halle 1694 

Breslau 1702 

Gottingen 1734 

[Fulda 1734] 

Erlangen 1743 

[Stuttgart 1781] 

Bonn 1786 

Berlin 1809 

Munich 1836 



The names inclosed thus [ ] designate universities 
that no longer exist. By '* Germany " is meant the old 
German-Roman Empire of the Middle Ages, embracing 
parts of Switzerland, Eastern France, Bohemia, and the 
Austrian duchies. A glance at the above list will reveal 
the striking preponderance of South Germany over North 
Germany in culture and in educational faciHties, until 
comparatively recent times. Since the middle of the 
eighteenth century, the seat of intellectual activity has 
been transferred. We see following one another in rapid 



STATISTICS OF GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 357 

succession the renowned series: Breslau, Gottingen, Er- 
langen, Bonn, Berlin. Catholic Germany has been 
distanced by Protestant. Another point of interest is the 
number of universities that have gone under : no less 
than eighteen. This tendency to slough off the sicklier, 
effete members, and to concentrate the resources of 
higher education still exists, but not in an active form. It 
is among the possibilities that Giessen and Marburg may 
be fused into one ; also Rostock and Greifswald. Now 
that railroad communication has facilitated travel, and 
Germany is consolidated into a compact realm under 
one system of imperial administration, the petty German 
princes can no longer aspire to have each his own 
Landesuniversit a t. 

The following tables show the respective numbers, 
first, of the faculties, next, of the students, at the existing 
universities. The figures are taken from the Universitdts- 
Kalender for the summer of 1874. 



358 



GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 



FACULTY. 



I. German Empire. 

Berlin 

Bonn 

Breslau 

Erlangen 

Freiburg (Baden) 

Giessen 

Gottingen 

Greifswald 

Halle 

Heidelberg 

Jena 

Kiel 

Konigsberg 

Leipsic 

Marburg 

Munich 

Rostock 

Strassburg 

Tubingen 

Wurzburg 



II. German A ustria. 

Graz 

Innsbruck 

Prague 

Vienna 



35 
loo 



178 
99 

106 
54 
52 
S8 

icS 
S6 
93 

107 

f: 

60 

77 
141 

64 

"3 

34 
83 



67 

59 

122 

226 



STA TISTICS OF GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 359 



STUDENTS. 
(Winter 1873-4.) 



I. German Empire. 

Berlin 

Bonn 

Breslau 

Erlangen 

Freiburg 

Giessen 

Gb'ttingen 

Greifswald 

Halle 

Heidelberg 

Jena 

Kiel 

Konigsberg 

Leipsic 

Marburg 

I Munich 

I RostocK 

I Strassburg 

Tubinejen 

Wurzburg 



II. German Austria. 

Graz 

Innsbruck 

Prague 

Vienna 



THEOLOGY. 



173 

57 

65 



lOI 

28 

219 

z6 
79 
53 
59 
399 
54 



no 

94 



132 
143 

63 

166 
141 
165 



560 
243 
337 
41 



75 

159 

273 

73 

19 

202 

IOI2 

51 
258 

38 
156 
171 
104 



347 
116 
822 

1442 



333 
137 
168 
156 
105 
86 

154 
287 
146 
82 
74 
57 
i6i 

559 
145 
402 

30 
165 

177 
499 

296 
102 
472 
997 



691 
266 
423 
70 
45 
142 

459 
138 
494 
204 
132 

40 
185 
906 
168 
409 

31 
195 



179 

336 
703 



4; 

"3 


•a . 
-4 




la 

S 




6 " 

11 

c c 
a 


"3 


•0 

c 

2 



1757 


I8I6 


3573 


813 


35 


848 


1087 


■9 


1 106 


445 




445 


284 


5 


289 


338 


27 


365 


1000 


18 


1018 


528 


12 


540 


1018 


22 


1040 


58s 


55 


640 


358 


18 


376 


169 


36 


205 


607 


10 


617 


2876 


64 


2940 


418 


15 


433 


"43 


17 


1160 


'35 




135 


564 


36 


600 


814 


9 


823 


872 




872 


895 


80 


975 


563 


78 


641 


1771 


40 


1811 


33°7 


506 


3813 



36c 



GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 



The following list, taken from the official catalogue of 
Leipsic for the winter of 1873-4, gives the analysis of 
the body of students of that university. 





"o 
1) 

H 



•a 

a 

3 


a 
'o 
'•5 


s 

u 
cj 

J3 
Cu 

1 
I 

2 

I 

66 

44 
2 

I 

3 

I 

3 
125 


c 

2 
3 

64 

56 
3 

I 
I 

3 

2 

141 


>. 

"q. 




2 

2 

I 
2 
2 

I 
2 

I 

5 

I 

44 
20 

I 
2 

84 




'5j 


iE 
■a 

4) 

3 

I 

60 

3 

5 

I 

74 


bjo 

_o 
"Z 
13 

PL, 

6 
2 

4 
8 
I 
I 

5 
3 

2 
2 
8 
2 
3 
139 
2 

73 
4 
4 
7 
5 
S 

I 

287 




S 

(U 

3 

2 
33 

32 

3 

I 

78 


6 

"5 

■c 

2 

43 
24 

97 


s 

41 





I. German Empire. 
Anhalt 


5 

I 

18 

4 

I 

2 

4 
2 

I 

17 
4 
4 

154 
5 

114 
9 
I 
8 
I 

3 
2 
2 

362 


s 

7 
9 
8 

3 

I 

10 
7 

3 
2 

14 
5 
4 
420 
10 

333 
12 
6 
8 
14 
7 

10 

898 


8 

8 
6 
I 

4 

3 

6 

3 
7 

156 
1 

141 
2 
I 
2 
3 
I 

17 
37° 


33 
15 
45 
35 
10 

3 
4 

32 
19 

I 
II 

5 

60 

'5 

22 

1 140 

20 
908 

35 
15 
32 
32 
24 
3 
33 




Bavaria 


Bremen 

Buckeburg 

Alsace-Lorraine 


Hesse-Darmstadt... 

Lauenburg 

Lippe 

Liibeck 

Meckle'g-Schwerin, 
Meckle'g-Strelitz... 


Prussia 

Reuss 

Saxony (Kingdom). 
Saxe-Altenburg .... 
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha 

Saxe-Meiningen 

Saxe-V^'eimar 

Schwarzburg. .. 

Waldeck 


Wiirtemburg 


2551 



STATISTICS OF GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 361 





bo 



(U 

h 


V 

c 

01 

■a 
3 

u 

a 

3 


c 
•3 




S 

0- 


6 


.§ 
'5 
w 


.a 




M 

bB 
oi 
•0 
<o 


ho 



H 


w 
3 



< 

I 

15 

7 
I 
4 

29 


1 

<u 

s 

Cli 

I 
I 
8 

I 

II 





II. other European 
States. 

Denmark 

France , 

Greece 

Great Britain 

Italy 

Holland 

Austria 


9 

I 

13 

I 

I 
2 


2 

2 

17 
7 
12 

12 
2 


2 

i8 
2 
12 

II 

I 


I 

2 
2 


I 

2 

3 
2 

5 

4 
I 
2 
I 


I 

3 
2 

13 
2 

'5 

5 

41 


I 

I 

I 
2 

5 


I 
I 
I 

12 
I 
9 

4 
3 

32 




■ 
I 


I 

2 

7 

IS 

7 

5 

96 

12 

71 

3 

45 

10 


Roumania 

Russia 


Sweden, Norway . . 

Switzerland 

Turkey 


III. Non-European 
States. 

North America 

Brazil 

Venezuela 

Japan 


•• 
I 


27 54 


47 5 21 


273 


8 

2 
10 


7 

I 
8 


8 
I 

I 

2 
12 




4 
4 


11 
II 




6 
6 


I 

I 






45 

I 
I 
I 
4 


Africa 


Recapitulation. 
I. German Empire 
IT. 0th. Euro. Stat. 
III. Non-Euro. Stat. 


52 


362 
27 
10 

399 


898 
54 
8 

960 


370 
47 
12 

429 


125 

S 
130 


141 
21 
4 

i66 


84 
41 
II 

136 


74 
5 

79 


287 
32 
6 

325 


78 

I 
I 


91 
29 

120 


41 
II 

52 


2551 
273 
52 


8 





2876 



31 



362 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

The Leipsic catalogue for the winter of 1872-3 an- 
nounced the following schedule of studies. The figures 
in ( ) denote the number of hours per week. 

I. Theology. 

I. Full Professors. 
Fr. Delitsch — Biblical Theology of the O. T. (4 h.) ; 

Interpretation of the Minor Prophets (4 h.) ; Grammar 

of Biblical Chaldee (2 h.) ; Hebraicum (i h.). 
Kahnis — History of Dogma (6 h.) ; Eccles. Hist, of the 

Later Middle Ages (2 h.) ; Symbolic (4 h.) ; Practical 

Exercises of Theol. Soc'y (3 h.). 
Luthardt — Dogmatics (6 h.); Interpret, of St. John's 

Gospel (4h.); Introd. to Dogmatics (2 h.); Exercises 

of the Soc'y for Dogmatics (2 h.). 
Lechler — Church History since Gregory VII. (6 h.) ; 
, Interpretation of Ep. of St. Peter (2 h.) ; Practical 

Exerc. in Church History (2 h.). 
Fricke — Life of Christ accord, to Four Gospels, with 

Prefatory Criticism of the Gospels (4 h.) ; Interpret, of 

the Messianic Proph. of O. T. (3 h.); Interpret, of 

Paul to Galatians (2 h.); Soc'y for Exegesis of O. T. 

and N. T. (2 h.). 
Tischendorf — Interpret, of Epistle to Romans (4 h.); 

Interpret, of the Parenetic Parts of Ep. to Romans 

(2 h.). 
Baur — Practical Theology (i h.) ; German Lit. from 

Klopstock to Present Day, in its Relations to Religion 



STA TISTICS OF GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 363 

and the Church (3 h.) ; Exercises of Homiletic Seminar 

(2 h.). 
Hofmann — Practical Theology (6 h.) ; Evangelical 

Pedagogic and its History (4 h.) ; Exerc. of Seminar 

for Catechetic and Pedagogic. 
H'oletnann — Interpret, of Job (4 h.) ; Soc'y for Exegesis 

of O. T. and N. T., Disputations, etc., in Latin (2 h,). 

2. Assistant-Professors. 
W. Schmidt — Interpret, of I. and II. Corinth. (4 h.) ; 

Hermeneutics of N. T. (2 h.) ; Soc'y for Catechetic 

(2 h.). 
CI. Brockhaus — Archaeology of Christian Art (2 h.). 

3. Privatdocenten. 
ScKiirer — Life and Teachings of St. Paul (2 h.). 
Joh. Delitsch — History of the Doctrine concerning the 
Person of Christ (2 h.). 

II. Jurisprudence. 

I. Full Professors. 

Muller — Common and Statute Law of Saxony (10 h.); 
Practicutn for Saxon Law (2 h.); Exegeticum (2 h.). 

Wiichter — Pandects (10 h.); Theory of Possession (2 h.). 

Hanel — Sources of the Roman Law (2 h.) ; Criminal 
Procedure accord, to R. L. (2 h.). 

Osterloh — Civil Procedure ace. to Comm. Law of Ger- 
many and Saxony (10 h.); Pradiciim in Procedure 
(2 h.) ; Relatorium (2 h.). 



364 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

Heinze — German Crim. Law (7 h.); History and System 

of Legal Philos. (4 h.); Internat. Law (2 h.); Seminar 

for Crim. Law Practice (2 h.). 
A. ScJmiidt — Pandects (12 h.); Listitutes and Hist, of 

Rom. Law (6 h.). 
Fried berg — Hist, of German Law (4 h.) ; German Const. 

Law (4 h.) ; Commercial Law (3 h.). 
Kuntze — History of Rom. Law (6 h.); Commercial Law 

(incl. Insurance) (4 h.); Exegesis of Passages from 

Digest (2 h.). 
Stobbe — German Common Law, excl. of Commercial 

Law (7 h.) ; Eccles. Law (4 h.) ; Exercises in Germ. 

Law (2 h.). 
Schletter — Crim. Procedure accord, to Comm. Law of 

Germany and Saxony (4 h.) ; Law relating to Public 

Officials (4 h.). 

2. Assistant-Professors. 

Weiske — Mining Law. 

H'bck — History of German Const. Law (6 h.) ; Com- 
mercial Law (6 h.) ; Obligations, accord, to Germ. 
Law (2 h.). 

G'otz — Commercial Law (2 h.) ; Property Law (2 h.). 

Voigt — Listitutes and Hist, of Rom. Law (10 h.) ; 
Encyclopaedy of Law (3 h.). 

Nissen — Praeticum for Civil Procedure (2 h.) ; for Crim. 
Procedure (3 h.). 

Lueder — Criminal Law (7 h.) ; Agricult. Law (3 h.). 



STA TISTICS OF GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 365 



III. Medicine. 

I. Ftdl Professors. 

Radius — Pharmacy (4 h.) ; Public and Private Hygiene 
(2 h.). 

Weber — Organs of Hearing in the Amphibia (3 h.), 

Wunderlich — Medical Clinic (9 h.) ; Pathol, and Therap. 
of Acute Constit. Diseases (4 h.). 

Crede — Gynecological and Obstetrical Clinic (7 h.) ; 
Practical Exercises in Obstetrics, with Manikin (4 h.) ; 
Obstetrical Demonstrations (2 h.). 

Wagner — Spec. Pathol. Anatomy (7 1-2 h.) : Pathologic- 
histological Exercises (5 h.) ; Exerc. in Pathol. Insti- 
tute (4 h. daily) ; Medical Polyclinic (5 h.). 

Ludwig — Physiol, of Organs of Sensation and Locomo- 
tion (5 h.) ; Physiol. Consultat. (2 h.) ; Exercises in 
Physiol, for Advanced Students. 

Thiersch — Surgical Clinic (9 h.) ; Surgery (4 h.). 

Coccius — Ophthalm. Clinic (6 h.) ; Pathol. Optics (2 h.) ; 
Internal Inflam. of Eye (2 h.). 

His — Systemat. Human Anat. (10 h.) ; Dissecting (8 h. 
daily). 

Braune — Army Practice (2 h.) ; Operations (4 h.) ; Dis- 
secting (for those attending Clinics) (4 h. daily) ; 
Topograph. Anatomy (2 h.). 

Czermak — Introduction to Physiology (Public Lecture) 

*3i 



366 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

2. Assistant-Professors. 

Bock — Diagnostic Phenomenology. 

Sonnenkalb — Pradicum iox those entering State Service 
(3 h.) ; Medical Jurisprudence (4'h.). 

Cams — Comparat. Anatomy of Vertebrates (4 h.) ; Com- 
parat. OstcQlogy (2 h.) ; Comparat. Anat. and Physiol, 
of Domest. Animals (4 h.). 

Germann — Diseases of Women (2 h.). 

Hennig — Exatninatoriuin m Obstetrics (6h.); Pediatric 
Clinic (2 h.). 

Reclain — Med. Jurispr. (2h.); Alimentary Substances 
(2 h.); Exercises in Hygienic Investigations (2 h.). 

Merkel — Physiol, of Human Voice (principally for Phi- 
lologists) (2 h.) ; Laryngiatric Polyclinic (3 h.). 

B. Schffiidt — Surgical Polyclinic (6 h.); Vivisection 
(2 h.) ; Hernia (i h.). 

Thomas — Exercises in Physical Diagnosis (2 h.) ; Poly- 
clinic (3 h.). 

Schwalbe — Use of Microscope (i h.) ; Anat. of Brain 
and Spine (2 h.) ; Exercises with Microscope (courses 
of 6 h. each) 

3. Privatdocenten. 

Meissner — Obstetrics with Reference to Jurisprudence 

(2 h.) ; Pract. Exerc. in Obstetrics. 
Haake — Exercises in Obstetrics, with Manikin (3 h.); 

Intra-uterine Therapeut. (i h.). 
Naumann — Pharmaco-dynamics (2 h.) ; Medical Baths 

(i h.). 



STATISTICS OF GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 367 

Hagen — Otiatric Polyclinic (12 h.) ; Laryngoscopy, 
Pharyngoscopy, and Rhinoscopy (2 h.) ; Galvanism 
Applied to the Ear (2 h.). 

Wendt — Polyclinic for Diseases of Ear (9 h.). 

Friedlander — Constitut. Diseases (4 h.). 

Kormann — Exaininatorium for Obstetrics (courses of 
36 hours each). 

Wenzel — Repetitorimn for Human Anatomy (6 h.) ; 
Anatomy for Non-medical Students (2 h.). 

Siegel — Public Hygiene (2 h.) ; Medical Jurisprud. 
(2 h.). 

Heubner — Clinical Propaedeutics (3 h.) ; Special Pathol- 
ogy and Therap. (6 h.); Electro-diagnosis and Electro- 
therapeut. (2 h.). 

Huffier — Physiol. Chemistry (2 h.); Analysis of Ani- 
mal Tissues and Humors. 

L. Furst — Diseases of Children (2 h.) ; Propaedeutics 
of Obstetrics (i h.) ; Pediatric Polyclinic (3 h.). 

IV. Philosophy. 

I . Full Professors. 
Overbeck — Greek Mythology in Art (5 h.) ; Explanation 

of Select Spec, of Antique Art (3 h.) ; Exerc. of Ar- 

chseol. Soc'y. 
Drobisch — Psychology (5 h.); Outlines of Perception 

(3 h.). 
Fechner — The Interrelations of Body and Soul (2 h.). 
Fleischer — Interpret, of the Koran (2 h.) ; Introd. to 

Study of Mod. Arabic Periodicals (2 h.) ; Interpret, of 



368 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

the Beharistan of Djami (2 h.) ; Turkish Syntax (2 h.) ; 

Exerc. of the Arabic Soc'y. 
Roscher — Polit. Economy (4 h.) ; Finance (3 h.) ; Nat. 

Economy and Statistics (2 h.). 
Brockhaus — Interpretation of Epic Passages in the Ra- 

mayana (2 h.) ; Interpret, of Select Hymns from the 

Rigveda (4 h.). 
Wiittke — Hist, of French Revol. (4 h.) ; Histor. Sef7ii- 

narj Exam, of Essays, and Review of Sources for Hist 

of Saxon Dynasty (3 h.). 
Hankel — Magnetism, Electr., Heat (6 h.) ; Terrestrial 

Magnetism (2 h.). 
Zarncke — Grammar and Lit. Hist, of Old Norse (4 h.) ; 

Interpret, of Nibelungenlied (6 h.) ; Exerc. of Germa- 

nistic Soc'y. 
Ahrens — Logic (4 h.) ; Fundam. Doctr. of Ethics (2 h.) ; 

Theories of State and Administr. (4 h.) ; Exerc. of 

Soc'y for Study of Government. 
Curtuis — Greek Grammar (4 h.) ; Grammat. Soc'y (2 h.) ; 

Exerc. of Philol. Seminar in Interpret, of Odyssey, etc. 

(2 h.). 
Masius — Hist, of Pedagogic (4 h.) ; Schools and School 

Regul. of 1 6th and 17th Cent, (i h.) ; Pedag. Seminar 

(2 h.). 
Ebert — Introd. to Compar. Philol. of Romance Lang. 

(3 h.) ; Provenzal Gram, and Interpret, of Bartsch's 

Chrest. Prov. (2 h.). 
Ritschl — Greek and Roman Metres, Hist, of Greek Lyric 

Poetry (4 h.) ; Interpret, of ^schylus (in Latin), in 



STA TISTICS OF GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 369 

Philol. Seffunar (2 h.) ; Interpret, of Terence, and Lat. 
Disput. in Philol. Soc'y (2 h.). 

Kolbe — Organic Chemistry (4 h.) ; Laborat. Practice 
(7 h. daily). 

G. Voigt — History of German Empire from Charle- 
magne to Downfall of the Hohenstaufen (4 h.) ; Age 
of Luther and Charles V. (2 h.) ; Histor. Soc'y. 

Scheibner — Functions of the Ellipse (5 h.) ; Differ, and 
Integral Calc. (4 h.). 

Schenk — Botan. Physiol. (3 h.) ; Fossil Plants (2 h.) ; 
Laborat. Practice. 

Bruhns — Comets and Determ. of Courses (3 h.) ; Spher. 
Trig, and Progr. in Applic. to Astron. (2 h.). 

Neumann — Electrodynamics (4 h.) ; Discuss, of Mathem. 
Exerc. (i h.). 

Leuckart — Compar. Anat. (6 h.) ; Zoology of Vertebrates 
and Origin of Species (4 h.) ; Labor. Practice (daily). 

Blonieyer — Agriculture (4 h.) ; Plants of Commerce (2 
h.) ; Law of Farming (i h,). 

Zirkel — Chem. Geology (i h.) ; Mineralogy (6 h.) ; 
Laborat. Practice. 

Wiedemann — Inorgan. Chem. (6 h.) ; Laborat. Practice. 

Lange — Legal Antiq. of Greece (4 h.) ; Seminar, Inter- 
pret, of Epistles of Horace, Lat. Disputat. (2 h.) ; 
Roman Archseol. Soc'y (2 h.). 

Peschel — Physical Geography (4 h.). 

Zbllner — Astron. Physics (4 h.) ; Principles of Perception 
in their Relations to Nat. Sciences (2 h.). 



370 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

Krehl — Encyclopjedy of Semitic Philol. (4 h.) ; Interpret. 

of Arnold's Arabic Chrestom. (2 h.). 
Strwnpell — Logic (4 h.) ; Problems of Relig. Phil. (2 h.) ; 

Pedagog. Exercises. 

2. Assistant-Professors. 

Nobbe — Odes of Horace (2 h.); Lat. Disputat. (2 h.). 

Marbach — Geom. and Trigonom. (4 h.). 

Jacobi — Agriculture (2 h.) ; Cameralia {\ h.) ; Discuss, 
of Geogr. and Topograph. Nomenclature (i h.). 

Wenck — Hist, of Germany from Westphalian Peace to 
Accession of Frederick the Great (4 h.) ; Hist, of Ger- 
many from Accession of Rudolph of Habsburg to End 
of 14th Cent. (2 h.). 

Fritzsche — Frogs of Aristophanes (2 h.) ; Latin Style 
(2 h.) ; Greek Soc'y (Aristotle's Metaphysics) ; Lat. 
and Greek Disputat. 

Jlermann — Introd. to Phil, and Logic (4 h.) ; Aesthetics 
(4 h.) ; Criticism of Leading Mod. Systems of Philoso- 
phy (2 h.). 

Knop — Agricul. Chem. (4 h.); Labor, Practice. 

Minckwitz — Origin and Developm't of German Lyric 
Poetry (2 h.) ; Origin of Homer. Poems (2 h.). 

Ziller — Psychology (4 h.); Phil, of Religion (2 h.); 
Pedagog. Seminar. 

Eckstein — Odes of Horace explained in Latin (3 h.) ; 
pedagog. Setninar. 

Brandes — Hist, of Central Europe in Reformation (2 h.) ; 
Hist of France (2 h.); Germanistic Soc'y. (i h.). 



STATISTICS OF GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 371 

Biedermafin — German Hist. (1806-1871) (2 h.) ; Hist, 
of Germ. Lit. in i8th and 19th Cent. (4 h.) ; Nature 
and Hist, of Drama (2 h.). 

Hirzel — Pharmacy of Inorganic Preparat. (2 h.). 

Seydel — Hist, of Mod. Philos. (4 h.) ; Relations of Philos. 
and Religion, especially since Kant (2 h.) ; Philosoph. 
Soc'y. 

Pockert — Saxon Hist. (2 h.) ; German Hist, since West- 
phalian Peace (2 h.). 

Birnbaum — Cattle-Raising (3 h.) ; Administr. of Estates 
(5 h.) ; Import. Questions of the Day (2 h.). 

Hildebrand — Germ. Lit. of the i8th Cent. (4 h.) ; Inter- 
pretation of M. H. G. poem Meier Helmbrecht (2 h.). 

Knapp — Labor Question in England, France, Germany 
(4 h.) ; Pract. Exerc. in Statistics (2 h.), 

Lipsius — Thucydides, Bk II. (4 h.) ; Exerc. of Greek 
Archaeol. Soc'y. (2 h.). 

Ebers — Old Egypt. Grammar (3 h.) ; Interpret, of Pas- 
sages in Genesis and Exodus relating to Egypt. (2 h.). 

Leskien — Grammar of Church Slavonic (4 h.) ; Hist, of 
Serbic-Croatic Lang. (2 h.). 

Credner — General Geology (5 h.) ; Labor. Practice 

(2 h.). 
Stohmann — Chem. Technology (3 h.). 
Mayer — Analyt, Geom. (4 h.) ; Mathem. Exerc. (i h.) 
Zurn — Anatomy of the Horse (2 h.) ; Veterinary Surgery 

(4 h.) ; Hygiene of Domestic Animals (i h.). 



372 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

3. Privatdocenten. 

Weiske — Meteorology (2 h.). 

O. Delitsch — Methodology of Geogr. Instruction (2 h.) ; 
Relatorimn in Geography (2 h.). 

Paul — Musical Art of Greek Drama (2 h.) ; Harmonics 
of Mod. Music, etc. (2 h.). 

Fra7ik — Natural History of Fungi (2 h.) ; Seeds in Agri- 
culture (2 h.). 

Muhll — Theory of Elasticity (4 h.) ; Potential and 
Conic Functions (2 h.) ; Mathem. Exerc. 

Loth — Persian {2 h.) ; Enc3'clopaedy of Arabic (2 h.). 

Carstanjen — Analyt. Chem. (4 h.). 

Schuchardt — Span. Grammar (3 h.) ; Ariosto (i h.). 

Englemann — Planetary Orbits (2 h.) ; Mechanical Quad- 
rature (i h.). 

Nitsche — Nat. Hist, and Palseontol. of Molluscs (2 h.) ; 
Developm't. of Invertebrates (2 h.). 

Philippi — Thucydides (3 h.) ; Hist, of Athens (i h.). 

Hirzel — Hist, of Greek Philos. (4 h.) ; Interpret, of 
Plato's Phaedrus ; Pract. Exerc. in Aristotle's Ethics. 

Sachsse — General Agricult. Chem. (4 h.) ; Repetitorium 
for Analyt. Chem. (i h.). 

Luerssen — Morphology, Physiology of Algae, Fungi, etc. 
(3 h.). 

Schuster — Hist, of Greek Phil, down to Aristotle; Inter- 
pret, of Plato's Gorgias. 

Furst — (since deceased) Isaiah (3 h.); Pirke-Aboth 
(i h.). 

Langer — General Theory of Music (2 h.); Varieties of 
Musical Composit. (2 h.). 



STATISTICS OF GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 373 

I have selected Leipsic because it is, beyond question, 
the leading German university at the present day. The 
number of its matriculated students exceeds that of Ber- 
lin by one thousand, and falls short of that of Vienna by 
only a few hundred. Vienna owes its large numbers to 
two circumstances. First, it is the only seat of learning 
for an immense district measured by a radius of one hun- 
dred and fifty miles, whereas Leipsic is in the heart of 
Germany, and has for its next-door neighbors Halle, Jena, 
Berlin and Breslau. Next, the medical school Vnd the 
hospitals of Vienna are the most renowned in the world. 
If we deduct the excess of medical students of Vienna 
over Leipsic, we shall find that in the other departments 
the latter leads the former. For breadth and variety of 
learning, and for activity, the Leipsic faculty is unrivaled. 
The reader who is in any degree familiar with the great 
movements of thought will have no difficulty in recogniz- 
ing in the above list of professors men pre-eminent in 
every branch. 

Berlin has been outstripped in the last ten years. This 
decline of the university that was once foremost has been 
made the subject of much discussion, both as to its 
causes and its possible cure. The most obvious cause is 
the enhanced expense of living. In 1863, only eleven 
years ago, the cost of living was moderate. A very 
good room could be obtained for eight or ten thalers a 
month. This was more than the rates at Gottingen, yet 
not much more than the rates at Heidelberg and Bonn. 
Other items of living, such as meals and clothing, were 
32 



374 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

no higher than they were elsewhere. Now, one can not 
obtain a tolerable room under twenty-five to thirty thalers 
a month, table-board has doubled in price, clothing also, 
and the general tone of the city has changed. One is 
victimized at every turn. So long as Berlin remained 
the capital of the obscure kingdom of Prussia, it was a 
quiet, genaithliche city. But in becoming the seat of the 
North German Confederation, and later still of the Ger- 
man Empire, it lost its former simplicity without acquir- 
ing the large-mindedness of a world-centre like London 
or Paris. The French milliards have launched the Ber- 
linese upon a career of wild extravagance. The univer- 
sity plays no longer the same important part that it did 
in city life. Both students and professors feel that they 
are pushed to the wall by the herds of nouveai4x riches, 
by stock-brokers, contractors, house-builders, and adven- 
turers. Yet the rise in prices is not the only cause of 
the decline of the university. The faculty itself is in 
part to blame. Like not a few other institutions, it has 
lived too much on its past reputation. Its most distin- 
guished professors are men extremely advanced in life, 
many of them are crotchety, opinionated, illiberal, set in 
their ways, and unsympathetic. They hold too much 
aloof from the spirit of the times. The university needs 
an infusion of new blood. Yet it will be difficult to ob- 
tain such an infusion. The rising celebrities find it more 
advantageous to accept a call to Leipsic or Munich or 
Strassburg, where the salaries, nominally no greater, are 
in reality adequate to the style of living, and -where they 



STATISTICS OF GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 375 



can exert more influence. I doubt whether Berlin will 
ever overtake Leipsic. The Saxon government, relieved 
from the responsibilities of political action, seems to be 
devoting its energies and its resources to the promotion 
of more spiritual interests. The King and his Ministers 
have now little else to do than to take this indirect and 
laudable revenge upon Prussia. With plenty of money 
at their command, they can, to use a mercantile phrase, 
go into the market and buy up whatever is best. Leipsic 
is slowly but surely drawing to itself the young men of 
promise. 

To complete the picture of the Leipsic university, I 
give the following tabular statement of expenditure and 
income for 1873. The figures were graciously furnished 
at my request by Professor Zarncke (Rector in 1872), 
through the mediation of my friend Dr. Felix Fliigel. 

Private Income of the University. 

1. From buildings and rents (shops in the 

city) 57 > 811 

2. From Endowments and the Faculty Fiscus 36,942 

3. Matriculation and other Fees 8, 100 

102,853 

Expenditures. 

1. Sinking Fund 15 j 904 

2. Expenses in carrying out terms of special 

bequests 672 

Carried forward 16,576 



376 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

Brought forward 16,576 

3. Salaries of Employees 18,618 

4. Salaries of Professors, 

Theological Faculty 18,180 

Legal 28 , 308 

Medical 27,896 

Philosophical 83 , 479 

157*863 

5. Apparatus of Instruction (Laboratory, 

Library, etc.) 99*773 

6. General Expenses, Printing, Pensions, etc. 9*582 

7. Student Stipends 2,270 

8. At the disposal of the Ministry (Contingent 

Fund) 10, 000 

Thalers 314,682 



Deducting the 102,853 o^ private income, there is an 
annual deficit of 211,829 thalers, met by appropriations 
from the state treasury. Of the total expenditures, 
275,454 go for salaries and the apparatus of instruction, 
say ninety per ceni of the whole. Even deducting the 
18,618 paid to employees would leave the percentage at 
almost eighty-five. 

The above statement, be it also observed, takes no 
account of lecture-fees. These fees, although paid in 
first instance to the university treasurer, are not entered 
in the general fund, but are transferred directly to the 
respective professors. So little are they regarded as an 



STATISTICS OF GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 377 

item of university income, that my informant has not even 
thought it necessary to give them. I am constrained, 
therefore, to make a computation based upon mere con- 
jecture. Assuming that there are 3,000 students, in 
round numbers, and that each one pays only twenty-five 
thalers a year, — a low average, and one that makes 
ample allowance for such poor students as obtain a 
remission or abatement of their fees, — we get the sum 
of 75,000, which sum is to be added of course to the 
157,863 of official salaries. It is an interesting feature, 
and one that reveals in the strongest light the radical 
difference between Germany and America, that what we 
regard as the main source of support for our colleges, 
their life-blood, is not even entered by the university of 
Leipsic in the official statement of its income. 

Leipsic is one of the few universities that have prop- 
erty of their own. The others are Heidelberg and 
Greifswald. I do not know of any besides these three. 
Leipsic is by far the wealthiest. The other universities 
are dependent altogether upon state appropriations. 
This is undoubtedly the case with Gottingen (formerly 
Hanoverian) and the Prussian universities. 

With regard to the salaries of the Leipsic professors, I 
take the liberty of quoting Professor Zarncke's own 
words : " The highest salary is about 3,500 thalers, but 
some of the professors are in receipt of gratuities {Zu- 
schusse) in addition. Thus the oniinarlus of the law- 
faculty has an addition of at least 1,000, the directors of 

the hospitals have about 600 in addition, and so on, 
*32 



378 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

This does not include lecture-fees, which, in many cases, 
must amount to 2,000 or 3,000. Accordingly our best 
paid man can not be in receipt of less than 7,000. But 
this, to be sure, is a highly favored position {eine gl'dn- 
zende Ausnahmestellung) . The minimum for an ordinarius 
is, at present, about i ,000. Most of the ordinarii receive 
1,800 to 2,000. The average income of the ordinarii 
would be 2,500. As to the extra-ordinarii, no fixed rule 
prevails. A few receive no salary, others receive only 
500, others again 1,000. One, if I mistake not, receives 
1,200." 

These salaries will appear, at first sight, decidedly 
meagre. Yet it should be borne in mind that money is 
only a relative notion. Whether a person in receipt of a 
fixed sum is well off or poorly off, depends upon the pur- 
chasing power represented by that sum. I should rather 
take my chances as Ausserordentlicher of the Leipsic 
faculty with 500 thalers a year, than as an American 
assistant-professor with $1,000. The Leipsic man has 
one decided advantage over his American colleague. 
His official duties are light, and lie altogether in the 
direction of his chosen studies. He is not called upon 
to give instruction to classes for twelve, fifteen, or even 
twenty hours a week, nor is his time frittered away in 
enforcing general discipline. One course of lectures 
(four or five hours a week) is his quantum of work. 
Whatever exceeds this, is a matter of personal ambition. 
If he is successful enough to establish two or three 
courses, the lecture-fees are his private gain. 



STATISTICS OF GERM AM UNIVERSITIES. 379 

His time is almost wholly his own. His salary enables 
him to live. To make this point clear, I shall endeavor 
to show as fully as possible the purchasing power of 
money in a town like Leipsic. The estimate will be of 
interest to those of my readers who may wish to know 
what to expect in Germany. I passed two months in 
Leipsic in the summer of 1872. Being pressed for 
time, I took the first apartment that I could find, without 
stopping to advertise or to bargain. It consisted of a 
study, with two windows facing on the main street, and a 
sleeping room with one window. Both rooms were com- 
modious, perfectly clean, and well furnished. The 
furniture was, for Germany, almost elegant. I paid 
ten thalers a month. The same quarters could not be 
obtained in New York for less than %\o a week. Break- 
fast, consisting of two cups of coffee, bread and butter, 
and eggs, served in my room, cost five thalers a month. 
My dinner at Miiller's restaurant, one of the best in town, 
cost, including a glass of beer, twelve thalers. Supper, a 
substantial warm meal, averaged about ten thalers. The 
aggregate of my expenses for living, then, was thirty-seven 
thalers a month. I venture to say that for this trifling 
sum I lived better, that is, more at my ease, feeling that I 
got more for my money, than I have ever succeeded in 
doing, under like circumstances, in America. As it was, 
I paid too much. I was a stranger, in a hurry, and 
unable to take the time for devising ways of economy. 
One located permanently in Leipsic could live fully as 
well for three fourths of the amount. Many a good room 



380 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

can be had, by hunting after it, for six thalers a month. 
The incidental expenses of life in Germany are nothing, 
as compared with those in America. An excellent suit 
of clothes can be purchased for twenty-five or thirty 
thalers, a pair of shoes for five or six thalers. Amuse- 
ments are also very cheap. By purchasing a season 
ticket for the Schiifzenhaus^ the great concert garden of 
the city, the price of admission is reduced to three cents 
an evening. For this trifling sum, one has the entree to 
a large and beautifully illuminated garden; the music, 
lasting from eight to eleven o'clock, is furnished by two 
large bands that play alternately in different sections of 
the garden. In addition to the music, there is a display 
of acrobatics. The best reserved seats at the opera and 
theatre cost only one thaler. But subscription-seats can 
be obtained at less than half the price.* There are 
numerous reading-rooms, where one can have access to 
all the periodicals, magazines and reviews, for a mere 
pittance, not to speak of the newspapers taken in the 
cafes. 

During my stay in Leipsic I was too much absorbed in 
my private studies to take very careful note of the world 
around me. Besides, it was the long vacation for the 
greater part of the time. But in 1873, on my return 
home from Vienna, I stopped for a few days to make 
some purchases. Having complete disposal of my time, 
I employed it in studying the outward manifestations of 

* It would be ungrateful in me to fail to mention the delightful motets de 
Uvered gratuitously every Saturday afternoon in the Church of St. Thomas. 



STATISTICS OF GERMAN UNIVERSITIES 381 

intellectual activity. At certain hours of the day the 
streets of the inner city, in the neighborhood of the 
university building, were thronged with students on their 
way to and from lecture. More particularly was this 
noticeable at one o'clock, when the midday pause comes 
in. The arched ways and courts of the quondam 
Dominican cloister, with all the avenues of approach, 
resembled a huge swarming ant-heap. Hundreds, thou- 
sands of young vcitn^Mappevsx hand, were hastening away 
to their rooms and their dining-places. Although there 
was no disorder, none of the turbulence and boisterous 
demonstrations that distinguish an American class let 
loose, it was almost impossible to make one's way against 
the surging mass of humanity. On one occasion I amused 
myself, while enjoying an after-dinner cup of coffee in the 
Cafe Frangais, by studying the motley composition of my 
neighbors. The upper rooms cf the Cafe are given up to 
smokers, and at this hour of the day nearly all the guests 
are students. To my left sat a party of Poles sibilating 
to their hearts' content over a game of draughts. To my 
right, a sedate party of Greeks, men of thirty or thirty- 
five, puffing cigarettes and conversing in an undertone. 
Directly in front, Germans boisterous over "Scat." In 
the adjoining billiard-room, three or four of my country- 
men still more boisterous over pool, *' damning 
scratches " and taking for granted, with the license that 
prevails among Americans on the Continent, that no one 
could understand them. The whole world seemed to be 
represented in that post-prandial reunion in the smoking- 



382 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

room of the Cafe Frangais. Coming fresh from the 
scenes of the Vienna Exhibition, I thought to myself that 
Leipsic too was a World's Fair, a standing parliament of 
the nations. The quiet Saxon town had made the world 
its tributary. Among its students were men who had 
played the role of professor at home, men well on in the 
thirties and even forties, who had saved up a few hundreds 
and had come from the four quarters of the earth, had 
crossed mountains and continents and oceans, in quest 
of the fountain of knowledge. 

The reader has before him the materials with which to 
construct an image of the great university in its magni- 
tude and its variety. Let him add thereto the city gym- 
nasiums, with their numerous staff of highly educated 
teachers, the celebrated Conservatory of Music, the many 
scientific and literary institutions, the bureaus of the 
countless perodicals that have their headquarters here, 
the great publishing houses of Brockhaus, Teubner, 
Tauchnitz and others scarcely less renowned, each one of 
which has its /(?r^^//«(?/ of critical proof-readers, editors, and 
literary advisers, and finally the many authors themselves 
residing here permanently. The aggregation of talent 
and culture is startling. The city throbs with the pulsa- 
tions of intense and sustained intellectual effort. Leip- 
sic is the head-centre for the culture of the most pro- 
ductive nation of the present day. Only London, Paris 
and Berlin, I am persuaded, surpass it in the number of 
men of learning, while in proportion to its population — 
barely 100,000 — it is without a peer. 



PRACTICAL HINTS. 3 S3 

IX. 
Practical Hints. 

It was part of my original purpose to sketch the promi- 
nent features of the six or eight leading universities of 
Germany, and to enumerate the most celebrated profes- 
sors in each department. But aside from the difficulty, 
not to say the impossibility of doing justice to the claims 
of all and each, I was deterred by the further considera- 
tion, that such a comparison, with all the care that might 
be put upon it, would have no permanent value. The 
universities are shifting in their nature. One rises, the 
other falls ; a few professors die or remove, new ones 
come in their place, and the character of the university is 
modified. Within my own experience I can recall a strik- 
ing instance of this shifting. Ten years ago, Gottingen 
stood slightly in the background, while Heidelberg was, 
if not the largest, certainly the most conspicuous of all the 
universities. But Vangerow and Mittermaier have since 
died, and the number of Heidelberg students has fallen 
to five hundred, while Gottingen, stimulated by the 
accession of new men, has raised its numbers to a thou- 
sand. The two universities have changed positions. The 
resuscitation of the university of Strassburg has drawn off 
many of the best scholars from the older seats of learn- 
ing. The smaller towns, in particular, such as Marburg, 
Wiirzburg, Tubingen, have suffered severely. Professors 
die and remove in America also, but their coming and going 



384 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 



does not affect so directly the general status of the col- 
lege. The undergraduate is sent to one college rather 
than to another, because the outline of study meets the 
views of his parents, or because they wish him to be 
reared under the influence of the religious denomination 
controlling that college, or because his family is tradi- 
tionally identified with it. Each college in America draws 
its supply of teachers and students from its own especial 
sources, represents certain fixed interests, and moves 
therefore in an orbit of its own. I doubt whether one 
undergraduate in a hundred is determined in his selection 
of an alma mater by the circumstance that a certain pro- 
fessor or certain professors are enrolled in its faculty. 
Indeed, so long as the professor himself is hindered from 
displaying his talents to their full extent, is limited to a 
share in the prescribed curriculum, the student is forced 
to disregard individual merits and to estimate the college 
only in its totality. In Germany, on the other hand, 
where the organization is uniform and all the universities 
rest on the same basis and are administered in accordance 
with the same principle, the character of each one at a 
given epoch is determined solely by the professors com- 
posing the faculty. If they are men of progress, the uni- 
versity itself will flourish ; but if they represent rather 
the ideas and methods that are passing away, the univer- 
sity will be on the wane. 

The reader will understand, then, that I do not attempt 
to furnish the data by which he can decide for himself 
which one of the twenty universities may be best suited to 



PRACTICAL HINTS. 385 

his needs. On this, as on every other point, the advice 
and opinion of friends who have lived in Germany, and 
are in a position to judge men and institutions by the 
light of their own personal experience, will be far more 
to the purpose than any mere remarks from me. All that 
I can do is to throw out a few practical suggestions of a 
general nature. 

The first is that every one who thinks of entering upon 
German university life should decide beforehand upon 
his specialty. The object of the university is not to 
afford general culture, but special training. Everything 
is made subservient to minuteness and thoroughness of 
research. Hence the American who should matriculate 
at Leipsic in the expectation of finding merely a Yale or 
a Harvard on a more generous scale, would find himself 
grievously disappointed. He may study any one subject 
he chooses, but he must study it to the exclusion of all 
others. 

To make a proper selection, one must have finished 
his preliminary training, i. e., must have taken his Ameri- 
can degree of B. A. or B. S. The American college goes 
little beyond the gymnasium, and, moreover, is not so 
thorough in its method. The American graduate is 
somewhat older and considerably more worldly-wise than 
the newly matriculated Fuchs, but I take the liberty of 
doubting whether he is equal in solid attainments, or in 
capacity for work. His education is marred by many 
flaws, it is not sufficiently symmetrical. Composition, 
oratory, and miscellanea have been cultivated at the 
33 



386 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

expense of more difficult acquisitions. One who enters 
the university without the preparation afforded either by 
the gymnasium or the college, commits the grave blunder 
of building on too narrow a foundation. He runs the 
risk of making his studies hasty and superficial. The 
German is not permitted to make such a mistake ; he is 
kept back, even against his will, until he has " ripened." 
The American is not under the same restraint, there is 
nothing to hinder him from entering a German university 
at the age of seventeen or eighteen, quite unprepared. 
Yet not many do so. The danger most to be appre- 
hended comes in the shape of the temptation to expedite 
matters by breaking off one's college course in the Junior 
or even in the Sophomore year. Not a few of the Ameri- 
cans now studying in the universities of Germany are 
young men whose impatience has thus outrun their 
discernment. The mistake is fraught with serious con- 
sequences. Whoever commits it is neither one thing nor 
the other ; he has not secured the benefit of gymnasial 
training, nor has he made his mark, so to speak, at home. 
If my words are to have any weight, I feel it to be my 
duty to impress upon the young reader the importance 
of completing his college studies before embarking upon 
the ocean of university life. To say this, one does not 
need to be blindly enamored of the American college 
system. That system has many and grievous faults. Yet 
taken as it is, for better and for worse, it is our system, 
the die that stamps its mark upon our culture. The man 
who has not received that impress must resign himself to 



PRACTICAL HINTS. 387 

passing at a discount. College training, imperfect as it 
undoubtedly is from the point of view of pure theory, has 
nevertheless practical advantages that must not be disre- 
garded. It prepares young men for the sudden crises, the 
contingencies and irregularities of American life. It does 
not afford, I regret to say, the highest instruction in any 
one department of knowledge. He who seeks after such 
instruction must go abroad for it. Yet the college is the 
place where one can best fit himself for playing his part 
as an American, the place where one can form useful 
connections and enroll himself in the brotherhood of 
American thinkers and men of action. 

These remarks concerning the colleges will apply with 
equal force to the schools of science and of medicine. 
After consulting with friends, and joining their opinions 
to the results of my own observation, I feel warranted in 
asserting that the surest way of reaping the full benefit of 
the advantages afforded in Europe is to prepare for them 
by taking a full course of study at home. Study abroad 
is like travel abroad ; one brings back only what one took 
away with him. That is to say, one must prepare him- 
self for the mission, by acquiring an ample stock of ideas 
and principles, and a practical familiarity with methods 
and processes. Otherwise, the phases of foreign life and 
thought slip from the mind like the evanescent kaleido- 
scopic impressions made by a moving panorama. 
Although entertained for the while, one is left in reality 
no wiser than before. 

We can even go farther, and hold that the American 



388 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

Student should not only have completed his general edu- 
cation, but that he should have mastered the rudiments 
of his specialty, before matriculating in a German uni- 
versity. It is the first step, as we all know, that costs. 
The German passes direct from the gymnasium to the uni- 
versity. But then he is at home, he has parents and 
friends near at hand, who can advise him from time to 
time. The American is thrown more upon his own re- 
sources. He has not only to learn the language, but he 
has to familiarize himself with novel ways of living. How- 
ever high-spirited and self-confident, he will be overcome 
at times by a feeling of helplessness, the consciousness of 
having to learn everything at once. The struggle is then 
too intense, too wearing. It will be materially lightened, 
if the student has already taken a start, if, while working 
amid strange surroundings and against the odds of foreign 
nomenclature, he is still working according to methods 
with which he is to some extent familiar. Let us take 
the study of chemistry for the purposes of illustration. 
To attempt to learn at once German and chemistry 
from the very beginning is too difficult. It can be done ; 
indeed, it has been done repeatedly. Yet success is 
bought at too great a cost. Six months' practice in an 
American laboratory would reduce the labor by at least 
one half. 

Furthermore, there is a practical consideration which 
has been too often overlooked. It is this. The Ameri- 
can does not live to study; he rather studies to live. 
Were life merely a pleasant sojourn in the secluded 



PRACTICAL HINTS. 389 

haunts of literature and science, one could afford to take 
up his abode early in a German university and linger 
there year after year in the delightful pursuit of abstract 
knowledge. But to the American mind, study presents 
itself as the means to an end, and that end is position, 
salary, whatever we may choose to call it. Much that is 
taught in a German university is proper enough in itself, 
and conducive to the highest interests of culture, but is 
not available, not yet at least, in America. One who 
wishes to prosper on his return home, should have the 
faculty of selecting, should be able to seize upon the 
essential, the practical, and disregard the unessential. 
But this ability presupposes experience, a knowledge of 
what the home-public will receive with favor. Hence it 
is that the men who have first initiated themselves into 
their vocation at home, serving their time as tutors or 
assistants, maturing, growing with the needs of the com- 
munity whom they serve, will succeed in turning even 
the briefest course in a German university to such good 
account, while others, who hastened abroad and pro- 
longed their stay, return confused in their notions and 
blundering in their aims. 

The parents who place their children at school in Ger- 
many, in the expectation of giving them the benefits of a 
" thorough continental education," commit a grave error. 
It is not an easy matter to get an American boy into a 
really good German school. Our boys stand in marked 
disfavor with the school-authorities. Teachers and 
directors have learned by painful experience that young 
*33 



390 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

Americans are prone to be idle and mutinous, exerting 
an evil influence over their associates. Nothing short of 
the strongest testimonials, backed by explicit guarantees 
from resident citizens, will open the doors of the gym- 
nasium. The private schools that make a practice of 
admitting Americans and English are, to say the least, 
questionable in their character and in the quality of their 
instruction. They are unquestionably inferior to the best 
of our own schools. Besides, conceding even that the 
American boy is placed at the gymnasium in his fifteenth 
or sixteenth year, pursues successfully the studies of 
Secunda and Frima, and enters the university, in what 
respect is he better off than his countryman who has just 
arrived from over the water.? He is more thoroughly 
trained in Latin and Greek, in mathematics, and in his- 
tory, and he speaks German with the fluency and pre- 
cision of a native. A great gain, no doubt, but obtained 
at a terrible price. The youth is completely denational- 
ized ! He is no longer an American, he has no sympathy 
with American life and character, he fails to appreciate 
American modes of thought and sentiment. Unless he 
has had the good fortune to reside with his own family, 
the probability is that his proficiency in German has cost 
him the total, in any case the partial loss of his mother- 
tongue. He is unable to write a letter or a composition 
in English, without committing the most absurd blunders 
in style, in grammar, and in orthography. Let him pass 
three years additional at the university. He will return 
to his native country, a young man of twenty-three, 



PRACTICAL HINTS.. 391 

highly educated, no doubt, but helpless, unpractical, 
ignorant of the ways of his countrymen. He will be 
almost as much a foreigner as any one of the hundred 
immigrants landed to-day at Castle Garden. 

Of all cruel delusions that have played havoc with 
education, this one of " the languages " has been the most 
baneful. Parents do not seem to perceive that their first 
duty to their children is to make them Americans. What 
is in itself only a means, they look upon as an end. It 
is perfectly true that a knowledge of French and Ger- 
man is not only useful, but is necessary in all or nearly 
all the professions. The man who has not command over 
the resources of these two languages labors under great 
disadvantage. Yet it is advisable that we should meet 
and answer fairly the question : What is meant by know- 
ing a language ? If by knowing a language is meant 
simply the ability to maintain a conversation or write a 
letter, let us be candid and admit that the accomplish- 
ment is a mere superficial varnish, a something that is 
not worth the acquisition. The small-talk of the ordi- 
nary letter and the drawing-room is no better and no 
worse in one language than in another. Where is the 
gain in keeping a boy or a girl for years in a Pension, far 
away from the refining influences of home, merely 
that he or she may be able to rattle off bilingual plati- 
tudes .'' How many of the hundreds and thousands of 
young men and women who have been reared at great 
expense in France and Germany, and who pride them- 
selves on their glibness of conversation, have made or are 



392 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 



likely to make their mark as authors and thinkers ? If 
French is worth learning at all, — and this applies to 
German and every other language, — it is worth learning, 
not as a " beggarly account of empty boxes " with pretty 
gilt labels, but as a vast storehouse of thought and cul- 
ture. To know French in the sense of being able to say, 
Good Morning, How D'ye Do, and to order one's dinner 
and berate the waiter, is a superfluous accomplishment. 
But French as the vehicle used by Racine, Pascal, 
Moliere, by the great writers of France, to convey their 
thoughts and ideas, is an object worth striving after. 
The man or the woman who is able to read French works 
with an understanding of their relative merits, with a clear 
insight into their development and into the special phase 
of national life that each one represents, has just reason 
to be proud. French language is one thing, French 
literature is another. The latter is a final object of 
study, the former is not. But to know French literature 
as the body of French thought, one must look upon the 
language as preliminary, the mere avenue of approach. 
And to become a good scholar in French literature, one 
must be in the first place a good scholar in English. 
One must be reared at home, must receive the best train- 
ing that his own country can afford, and must place him- 
self in accord with whatever is distinctively American 
and English. In no other way can one compare the 
literature in French with the literature in English, and 
do justice to each. The two Americans whose names 
are most strongly associated with foreign culture are 



PRACTICAL HINTS. 393 

Longfellow and Lowell. They have won for themselves 
imperishable fame as genial mediators between the Old 
World and the New, Yet neither Longfellow nor Lowell, 
I am confident, looks upon his knowledge of French, or 
German, or Italian as anything more than the key with 
which to unlock the treasure-houses of European thought. 
They were both sound English scholars, graduates of 
American colleges, before they embarked upon their 
foreign tours of exploration. They went abroad know- 
ing what to look for, prepared to accept or reject, to 
assimilate, and to reproduce. 

It is time that protest should be raised against this 
pernicious practice of placing our boys and girls at 
European schools. These schools are excellent, better 
indeed than our own, in many respects. But they are 
not planned for Americans, and they can never fit their 
pupils for the peculiar duties and responsibilities of 
American life. The higher education of the German 
universities is the best in the world. Yet Americans 
should beware of entering upon it before they are fully 
ripe, before they know what to take and what to leave. 

In speaking of the universities of Leipsic and Berlin, I 
have already mentioned the rates of the chief items of 
expenditure. It will be needful to add in this place, 
therefore, only a brief comparison of Leipsic with the 
smaller university towns. At Marburg, my room cost 
exactly one half the Leipsic price, but was much inferior 
in every respect. Indeed, by reason of the wretched 
style of building that has prevailed at Marburg, it is 



394 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

difficult to obtain a good room at any price. I may say, 
in general, that a good room may be had at Tubingen, 
Halle, Wiirzburg, Jena, and the other towns, except Bonn 
and Heidelberg, for six or seven thalers a month. Table 
d'hote will be somewhat less than at Leipsic, the other 
meals will differ but slightly. Whoever has at his com- 
mand $500 per annum, in gold, will be able to live in 
comfort, to have good rooms and excellent fare, to add 
twenty or thirty volumes each semester to his library, and 
to travel for a fortnight each vacation. There is many 
a German student who would be thankful to receive as 
much as $300 per annum. The only universities that can 
be called expensive are Berlin and Vienna. For these 
two places, $800 to $1,000 will scarcely be too much. 

What particular subject shall be studied, is of course a 
question that must be settled by each one for himself, 
according to his predilection and his opportunities. As a 
matter of fact, the majority of the Americans who study 
in Germany pursue chemistry and medicine. Next in 
point of numbers are the students of the classics. After 
them come the theologians. Very few take up the subject 
of Roman jurisprudence. So long as the law is looked 
upon in America as a bread-and-butter study, I see no 
reason to expect a change in this respect. To use the 
current phrase, " it will not pay " to spend two or three 
years over the Institutes and the Pandects. Yet I can- 
not refrain from expressing my regret that so few of our 
young lawyers should think it worth the while to make at 
least the effort to emulate the great Chancellor Kent, and 



PRACTICAL HINTS. 395 

to develop themselves not merely into clever practitioners 
but into accomplished jurists. A knowledge of the prin- 
ciples of the Roman Law is the foundation of study in 
international jurisprudence, and is also indispensable to 
a full understanding of the movements recorded in Conti- 
nental history. If by history we mean in sincerity the 
formation of national character and habits, and not 
merely the chronicle of battles and court intrigues, we 
cannot escape the conclusion that to study the history of 
a nation one must examine into its system of laws. For 
the laws of a nation are the permanent expression of the 
nation's habits, its views concerning property, the mar- 
riage relation, the rights and duties of parents and 
children, the connection between church and state. The 
political and social constitutions of France, Germany, 
Italy, and Spain, rest, to a large extent, upon the system 
of rules and maxims bequeathed to them or imposed 
upon them by the Romans and confirmed by the mediae- 
val church. The first step, then, toward the knowledge 
of continental history is the study of the general princi- 
ples embodied in the corpus juris. In support of this 
position, I refer to the practice of the German universi- 
ties, that place the Institutes and History of Roman Law 
among the requirements for the degree in history. 

Although loth to say aught that may have the appear- 
ance of an attempt to influence others in the selection 
of their vocations, I make one, and only one suggestion. 
Should any one of my readers be desirous of testing for 
himself the boasted superiority of the German university 



396 GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 

system, and should he be wholly undecided in his choice 
of a subject, why may he not take up history, and more 
especially the history of Germany ? Not only is the field 
inviting in itself, but it is one in which he need fear no 
rivals. The balance of power in Europe has been shifted 
over night, the veterans of Austria and France have gone 
down before the charge of the Prussian citizen-soldier, 
the first have become last, and the last first, but we have 
still to learn how this wonderful change has been effected. 
We count our German citizens, adopted and native, by 
the million, yet no one has told us in our own language 
what the change means, how it came to pass, what were 
its conditions and its remote origin, what it portends in 
the history of European civilization. We are left to the 
dreary platitudes of the English press and the incoherent 
Jeremiads of the French. Will not some one of our 
future scholars write for us the history of Germany, 
based upon German authorities but conceived from the 
American point of view .'' The harvest is there, awaiting 
the harvester. Let him show how the German race, fore- 
most in the Middle Ages, misdirected by the inordinate 
ambition of the Hohenstaufen and the Habsburgs, be- 
wildered by the Reformation, crushed by the Thirty 
Years' War, crazed by the Revolution, has nevertheless, 
by virtue of its marvelous vitality, regenerated itself, re- 
constituted itself from crown to sole, regained its former 
ascendency through the one great revival on record. The 
labor, I am aware, is immense, but the reward will be 



PRACTICAL HINTS. 397 

commensurate. The initiatory discipline can be acquired 
only at a German university. 

I conclude with a practical hint. Most Americans 
who visit Germany for the purpose of study leave home 
at the close of the so called commencement season. 
But many of them travel during the summer months, 
instead of proceeding direct to Germany and locating 
themselves permanently. This is a mistake. As a student, 
one has abundant opportunities for travel during the 
regular vacations. One's first aim should be to acquire 
some familiarity with the language. By leaving at the 
end of June, one can reach almost any city or town in 
Germany by the middle of July. From this date to the 
middle of October, the commencement of the winter 
semester, is a period of three months, which can be 
devoted exclusively to the study of the language. If 
this time is put to account, ihere will be very little diffi- 
culty in attending lectures in October. The Christmas 
vacation will afford ample time for visiting Berlin and 
Dresden, the spring vacation can be taken for the Rhine, 
and the succeeding summer for South Germany and the 
Alps. There can scarcely be a better adjustment of 
study and travel for the first year. One loses no time in 
going to work, and has the additional gain of traveling 
when he is already familiar with the language of the 
country, the coins, and also the ways of living. It will 
not be necessary, perhaps not advisable, to spend the 
three months above mentioned in a university town 
Any place where the language is correct and living 
34 



398 GERMAX iWIVEKSITIES. 

economical will answer. Hanover, in itself considered, 
would be perhaps the best place. But it is somewhat 
expensive, and is overrun with English and American 
families. Brunswick is a handsome city and offers many 
inducements. Next to it in desirability come Gotha, 
Weimar, and the other towns of Thuringia. From Leip- 
sic eastward, and Cassel southward, the German loses in 
purity and elegance. But wherever one may go, one 
point should never be overlooked, namely, to secure good 
letters of introduction from Americans and Germans to 
their personal friends in Germany. Mere general letters 
will not be of much avail. The letters should emanate 
from men of some distinction in America, and should be 
addressed to their personal acquaintances abroad. One 
such letter may secure the bearer a kind reception and a 
home at the start, and will certainly save him weeks of 
vexatious search after lodgings and the other incidentals 
of life. Even if the addressee can do nothing in the 
way of direct assistance, he can always advise, and to a 
foreigner, young and inexperienced, the smallest grain of 
advice is worth many a pound of self-bought wisdom. ' 



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about 500 subject headings, include all the most desirable books now to be 
obtained either in Great Britain or the United States, with the published prices 
annexed. Revised Edition. i2mo, paper, $1.00. Cloth, $1.50, 

" The best work of the kind we have seen."— College Caurant. 

"We know of no manual that can take its place as a gaido to the selection of a 
library."— iV^ Y. Independent. 

■\-~T~^ LACKWELL. Studies in General Science. By Antoinette Brown 
I J Blackwell. i2mo (uniform with Child's " Benedicite"). Cloth extra 
$2.25. 

" The writer evinces admirable gifts both as a student and thinker. She brings a 
sincere and earnest mind to the investigation of truth."— iV. Y. Tribune. 

"The idea of the work is an excellent one, and it is ably developed."— /?0»to7i Tran 
fciiji/. 

+ ~|"~)LAKE. The Production of the Precious Metak ; or, Statis^tical 
J__) Notices of the Principal Gold and Silver Producing Regions 
of the World. With a chapter upon the Unification of Gold and Silver 
Coinage. By Wni. P. Blake, Commissioner from the State of California to the 
Paris Exposition of 1867. One volume, 8vo, cloth extra, $2.50. 



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